US recycling shock

It’s not shocking that US recycling rates rose in 2010. They should have.

It is shocking that they are no better than in the late 1990s.

Figures from the Aluminum Association show that aluminium recycling reached over 60% up to 2000. In 2010 it was … 58.1%.

Numbers from NAPCOR, the National Association for PET Container Resources, put PET recycling at close to 25% in 1998. In 2010 it was … 29.1%.

Our industry really must make more progress than this.