Indeed, sorting trash has become part of the national culture. Newspapers in one bin, bottles and cans in another. One of the obstacles to successful recycling has been the lack of markets for the recycled material. Recognizing that federal purchasing decisions have large environmental consequences, President Clinton signed an Executive Order in 1993 encouraging the purchase of environmentally preferable products. EPA ' s program covers everything from cleaning supplies to the 100 percent recycled paper on which this report is printed.
Paper is one of the great recycling success stories.
The paper recovered for recycling in the past 10 years would fill more than 3.5 square miles of landfill space with a stack 50 feet high. New York City alone recycles over 600,000 tons of paper products every year. Industry, whose disposal costs are tied to the amount of waste generated, early-on learned the value of reducing waste.