A legitimate use for recycled material

I well remember being a kid in the 1970s when Jimmy Carter was in office and we started to hear plenty about recycling.

Yes, it was essential. Recycling was going to save the planet. Recycling would effectively cure of us our wasteful ways and we’d use materials again and again rather than letting them pile up in landfills around the nation. The only problem with recycling back then is that it was easy to use, say, aluminum cans time and time again, but it was rarely cost effective to reuse a lot of materials.

The problem was simple – unless one could  find a viable use for various materials, why bother recycling them? What was the point? Fortunately, technology has developed to the point where a lot recycled items can be transformed into something useful through cost effective processes that have been dreamed up over the years.

An entire industry has been formed around recycling and we’ve witnessed a good number of solid companies evolve. Rubberecycle is one of those companies and – as the name suggests – that outfit deals with rubber. Think about that for a minute. Rubber is one of the more common items to be found, so it’s good news that there is a use – and demand – for the recycled material.

One of the more common forms of the recycled material is rubber mulch. Whether you realize it or not, the chances are good you’ve run across that product on school playgrounds. Check around swings, monkey bars or just about any piece of playground equipment and that chances are good you’ll find rubber mulch spread around to keep children from getting injured when they fall.

That’s a fine product, indeed, as its development achieves quite a few goals. For one thing, it is recycled material so it’s environmentally friendly. For another, it is cost effective to produce, thus helping school districts avoid ordering “new” rubber because it is substantially cheaper than the recycled material. Finally, it effectively keeps kids safe on playgrounds, and who doesn’t want that?

And here’s another reason to appreciate the product – it’s made by New Jersey-based Rubberecycle. Considering the past few years of economic misery, it’s good to see a company that is growing and providing jobs to Americans who need them. Here’s something else – the company has dealings in all states in the Union, meaning local local jobs are created and will increase as the company expands.

In short, a lot has changed over the years in terms of recycling technology and those changes have almost always been improvements. Recycling has gone from a touchy, feely good idea to a process that is economically viable and makes a lot of sense. Making the decision to recycle something isn’t enough – there also has to be a legitimate, cost effective use for that material and we’ve seen those uses increase over the years. The “supply” end of the equation has rarely been the problem, but having recycled material is pointless unless there’s a demand for that material. Otherwise, recycling is little more that a feel-good storage solution that doesn’t really benefit anyone.