Recycling Is Hot

Two items in my inbox this week are proof positive – recycling is catching on.

An article in the New York Times, “Nudging Recycling From Less Waste to None,” reports on efforts by various entities to reach an anti-garbage strategy known as zero waste.

Honda, for example, “is recycling so diligently that the factories have gotten rid of their trash Dumpsters altogether.”

Item 2: DiggersList, the online construction classifieds company, announced the launch of its website and widget.” From the press release:
“With a presence in 15 markets across the United States and growing rapidly, DiggersList is the first and only free online resource custom tailored to the needs of contractors, property owners, suppliers and DIY enthusiasts. The site offers users a one-stop location to buy, sell or trade excess building materials and supplies as well as the functionality to post competitive bids for jobs and services, while connecting on the DiggersList builders network. The free DiggersList widget gives users the ability to syndicate their DiggersList feed and classified listings to their own website.”

Why this matters.
 “In 1999, two colleagues and I worked out what it takes to meet a single American family’s annual needs. Each year, for a four-person, middle-class household, industry extracts, processes, refines, manufactures, burns, pumps and wastes four million pounds of material. That’s approximately 20 times an average person’s body weight per day. Of this vast flow of stuff, only 7% gets into products at all, only 1% into durable products and only 0.02% into durable products that later get recycled, remanufactured or reused. Thus, U.S. materials flow is about 99.98% pure waste.”
 
Amory Lovins, Your Choices, Summer 2005 Patagonia catalog