Recycling continues to power the U.S. economy based on a new study conducted by John Dunham and Associates and released by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI). In addition to its positive environmental benefits, the recycling industry is responsible for more than 531,500 jobs and an overall economic impact of nearly $110 billion.
The study found that in 2019, 164,154 jobs are directly supported by the recycling and brokerage operations of the scrap industry in the U.S. Such jobs include material handler operators; environmental, health, and science managers; truck drivers; engineers; and more.
In addition, 367,356 jobs are indirectly supported by the industry through suppliers and the impact of the industry’s expenditures. The indirect jobs include thousands of people in other sectors, such as servers in restaurants, construction workers, teachers, and other professionals.
Learn more about the types of jobs created by the scrap recycling industry in this video from ISRI.
Read more about the economic impact of the recycling industry in the United States.