The first topic that comes to my head when thinking about sustainability is recycling. This is probably due to me learning about recycling from a young age hearing the popular phrase “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. As a kid this phrase did not hold much meaning, but as I got older it made more sense as I took more of an effort to be mindful of my own recycling habits. The total amount of municipal solid waste recycled in 2018 surpassed 69 million tons. Paper and cardboard made up 2/3 of that amount. The impact of recycling can be seen in the increased recycling rate from less than 7% in 1960 to the rate in 2019 of 32%. The growth factor of this is 2.36 per year from 1960 to 2019. Though the recycling rate increased overall during this time period, it decreased in 2018 from a rate of 34.7% in 2015. Additionally, one person on average per capita recycles 1.16 pounds per day.

Much of the overall increase in recycling since 1960 can be attributed to communities and businesses in the United States putting a direct effort into recycling and sustainability in their workplaces and with their products. The job market is also thriving due to the increase of recycling. In a single yeah reusing and recycling activities accounted for about 1.17 jobs for every 1,000 tons of recycled material. This shows that not only is recycling important for sustainability, but it is also beneficial for America in other ways as well.

Works cited:

https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials#:~:text=In%20percentage%20of%20total%20MSW,recycling%20rate%20was%2032.1%20percent.

https://www.epa.gov/recyclingstrategy/america-recycles-day