Last week, I was on the keynote panel at the Carolina Recycling Association’s Annual Conference and Trade Show. We were speaking about “The New Economics of Recycling.” As I noted in my presentation, the “new” economics of recycling are as old as recycling. We just keep forgetting the lessons we should be learning.
This message is particularly poignant because 50 years ago only two cities, San Francisco and Madison, Wis., had curbside recycling programs. Both collected newspapers put in paper bags on garbage collection day. The newspapers were placed in racks underneath the truck’s waste compaction unit. Madison’s program was brand new, and I’m not sure when San Francisco’s started.
