Recycling is widely celebrated as an environmental success story. The accomplishmentsof the recycling movement can be seen in municipal practice, a thriving private recycling industry,and widespread public support and participation. In the United States, more people recycle thanvote. But, as Samantha MacBride points out in this book, the goals of recycling -- saving the earth(and trees), conserving resources, and greening the economy -- are still far from being realized.The vast majority of solid wastes are still burned or buried. MacBride argues that, since theemergence of the recycling movement in 1970, manufacturers of products that end up in waste havesuccessfully prevented the implementation of more onerous, yet far more effective, forms ofsustainable waste policy. Recycling as we know it today generates the illusion of progress whileallowing industry to maintain the status quo and place responsibility on consumers and localgovernment.
MacBride offers a series of case studies in recycling that poseprovocative questions about whether the current ways we deal with waste are really the best ways tobring about real sustainability and environmental justice. She does not aim to debunk or discouragerecycling but to help us think beyond recycling as it is today.
