Upcoming webinar: Recylcing Equals Jobs!
Cidlowski, Laine (OP)
DCEN Webinar: Recycling Equals Jobs!
Tue Feb 07, 2012 at 08:07:13 PM EST
by Chris Weiss, Director, DC Environmental Network
“In these times of record-breaking unemployment in the United States (to say nothing of record-breaking costs for energy and landfill space), few solutions are more urgent–and none more logical–than creating jobs out of what we are otherwise throwing away.” – “Returning to Work”
Returning to Work: Understanding the Domestic Jobs Impacts from Different Methods of Recycling Beverage Containers
All Metropolitan Washington area decision makers, government agencies and advocates are invited to this important green jobs webinar:
On February 16th at 10:00 am, join the DC Environmental Network for an important green jobs webinar.
Susan Collins, Executive Director of the Container Recycling Institute (CRI) and Clarissa Morawski of CM Consulting will go over the details of the new CRI Report “Returning to Work: Understanding the Domestic Jobs Impacts from Different Methods of Recycling Beverage Containers.” (Clarissa Morawski, CM Consulting and Jeffrey Morris, Ph.D., of Sound Resource Management Group in Olympia, Washington, are the primary authors of this report.)
RSVP here to recieve webinar information!
Key findings of “Returning to Work” include:
- Deposits create more jobs than curbside recycling relative to beverage containers.
- Recycling creates more jobs than disposal, and CDR creates the most jobs of all.
- Material throughput is the primary driver of recycling jobs.
- The secondary driver of container-recycling jobs is the number of workers required to collect, sort and transport the containers.
- Jobs gained in recycling far outweigh any jobs lost in extraction of virgin materials.
- U.S. PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate) reclaimers currently operate at less than 60 percent of capacity. Increasing to capacity–that is, processing an additional 230,000 tons annually–would create nearly 500 new jobs, based on an employment factor of 2 FTEs per 1,000 tons. Yet the United States exports 400,000 tons of PET to overseas markets each year–the equivalent of 800 jobs.
- Jobs gained from recycling far exceed any jobs lost in virgin extraction, land-filling or domestic manufacturing.
Susan and Clarissa will describe the potential of green jobs and reference case studies of successful programs in the United States and Canada.
After the presentations participants will have an opportunity to ask questions.
Our panelists:
- Susan Collins, Executive Director, Container Recycling Institute, San Diego, CA – Susan has spent 20 years advising over 80 municipalities on municipal solid waste and recycling programs and sustainability issues. She recently completed an extensive international research project comparing the financial, operational and policy aspects of container deposit and packaging systems in California, Germany and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. She spent nine years on the board of the California Resource Recovery Association, has a B.S. in manufacturing engineering from Boston University and an M.B.A. from UCLA.
- Clarissa Morawski, Principal, CM Consulting, Ontario, Canada – CM Consulting provides research, analysis, communications and strategic planning services in the area of waste reduction and regulatory affairs. Clarissa Morawski works with industry, federal, provincial and municipal governments as well as the not-for-profit sector, and has more than sixteen years of technical, analytical and communications experience in waste-minimization policy and operations. She has built her career around understanding the various program elements that make up empty-beverage-container management in terms of reuse, recycling and disposal. Ms. Morawski is a contributing editor to Solid Waste and Recycling Magazine and has written for Resource Recycling and Biocycle magazines.
RSVP here to recieve webinar information!
All are welcome!
Learn more about Mayor Gray's sustainability plan for a greener, healthier, more livable city: www.sustainable.dc.gov!
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
Laine Cidlowski, AICP, LEED AP
Urban Sustainability Planner
DC Office of Planning
1100 4th Street, S.W. Suite E650
Washington DC 20024
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