Government Relations

Economic Leaders and Job Creators

The U.S.-based scrap recycling industry is a sophisticated, capital-intensive industry that has been creating “green jobs” in the United States for decades. As the first link in the manufacturing supply chain, scrap recycling has been integral to the U.S. economy, job creation, resource sustainability, energy savings and global trade for more than 200 years. After having contracted sharply in 2009 as a result of the global recession, the scrap recycling industry rebounded by more than 40 percent in 2010 to more than $77 billion in sales. Despite the lingering effects of the global recession on certain sectors of the U.S. economy, the scrap recycling industry has been at the forefront of job creation, adding 10,000 jobs to the economy since the beginning of 2010. The industry is a positive solution in the U.S. manufacturing landscape and directly employs more than 130,000 men and women based on environmentally sensitive and sustainable business practices.

Please see below or click here for a new study that shows more than 450,000 workers are put to work in the United States – directly and indirectly – through the U.S. scrap recycling industry.

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Environment

Environmental Stewards

This thriving economic engine is also a pivotal player in environmental protection and sustainability.

The scrap recycling industry recycled 125 million metric tons of materials in 2009, thereby transforming society’s outdated and obsolete products and materials into useful raw materials needed to produce new products. In doing so, the scrap recycling industry has made great savings in both energy and natural resources and thus has had an extremely positive impact on our environment.

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