Study: Recycling Industry Continues to Help Power the U.S. Economy

Recycling continues to make an impact on 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). The recycling industry is responsible for more than 531,500 jobs and an overall economic impact of nearly $110 billion.

“The recycling industry continues to power America’s manufacturing base, creating jobs, generating tax revenue, and proving valuable feedstock for new products,” said Joe Pickard, chief economist for ISRI. “In the U.S., we continue to process more material into valuable commodities, seventy percent of which is used right here by American manufacturers. With the innovation and new technologies coming online, this trend is expected to continue upward.”

The study found that in 2019, 164,154 jobs are being directly supported by the recycling and brokerage operations of the scrap industry in the U.S. In addition, 367,356 jobs are indirectly supported by the industry through suppliers and the indirect 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.

The $110 billion economic impact puts the recycling industry on par with the radio and television broadcasting, building services, and warehousing and storage industries. It includes the roughly $4.94 billion in state and local tax revenues generated along with another $7.96 billion federal taxes.

A full breakdown of the study, including the economic impact by state, congressional district, state legislative district, and selected cities is available for further research. 

In 2019, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, retained the independent economic consulting firm of John Dunham & Associates to perform an economic impact analysis to document the size and scope of the scrap recycling industry in the United States and document its significant contribution to the U.S. economy in terms of employment, tax generation, and overall economic benefits.