EconomyEinstein

The modern recycling movement can be traced to two events that happened in the late 1980’s. The first, in 1987, involved a barge named Mobro 4000 that attempted to dock in Morehead City, North Carolina and dump its 3,100 tons of waste that originated in Islip, New York. The garbage was ultimately carried back to Brooklyn, burned and the ashes buried in Islip. The other event, in 1989, was the publication of a paper by Jay Winston Porter, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator. The paper was titled “The Solid Waste Dilemma: an Agenda for Action.” In the paper Mr. Porter stated that recycling was “absolutely vital”. Local governments took notice and since the late 1980’s, the growth of mandatory recycling programs has reached nearly 10,000 communities in the United States today. Sadly, recycling in America is a colossal waste of money.