Study: More recycling could add 1.5 million U.S. jobs

Ever wonder what good recycling all those cans, bottles and newspapers does? Today, on America Recycles Day, a new report says that increasing the nation's recycling rate from 33% to 75% by 2030 would reduce pollution and create an extra 1.5 million jobs.

With the U.S. unemployment rate remaining stubbornly high at 9%, more special interest groups are promoting their causes by trying to quantify their likely job creation. Recycling proponents have joined this fray by sponsoring the "Less Pollution, More Jobs" report, prepared by the nonprofit research group Tellus Institute.

The report finds that waste diversion, unlike disposal, is more labor intensive and thus 85 % of the new jobs result from collecting, processing, and composting trash as well as making new products with recycled materials. It says a 75% recycling or diversion rate would generate 2.3 million jobs by 2030 -- 1.1 million more jobs than would occur if the United States kept on it current recycling pace and nearly 1.5 million more jobs than existed in 2008.

FOLLOW:  Green House on Twitter

In addition, it says carbon dioxide emissions would fall 276 million metric tons by 2030 — equivalent to taking 50 million cars off the road. It was prepared for the BlueGreen Alliance, SEIU (Service Employees International Union), the Natural Resources Defense Council, Teamsters, Recycling Works!, and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.