At a press conference convened in Washington, DC by the National Recycling Coalition, trade association representatives from these industries confirmed that recycling reduces environmental impacts and also creates jobs and competitive manufacturing industries. The industry press conference was called in response to an article entitled Recycling is Garbage, which ran in the The New York Times Sunday Magazine on June 30. The Times Magazine did not quote from any sources who work in recycling businesses or public agencies, but instead relied on the claims of a small group of anti-recycling think tanks and consultants who oppose recycling on ideological grounds. EDF's 18-page commentary on the Times Magazine article counters the claims made in the Times Magazine, and documents the environmental and economic benefits of recycling.
Recycling protects the environment while creating jobs and competitive manufacturing industries.
Their support of recycling as an industrial process makes its clear that recycling has benefits that extend far beyond solid waste management. Every major study that has examined recycling in comparison to one-way systems for production, use and disposal of virgin products and packaging has documented recycling's major environmental benefits.