Re: EPA: Recycling

Frederick R. Magdoff (fmagdoff@zoo.uvm.edu)
Mon, 31 Mar 1997 15:16:26 -0500 (EST)

Dear All,
Not sure if this was supposed to be satire or not, but some of
the statements are hard to believe-
****"But ever since we put a tree on our package and a banner reading,
'Made From At Least Five Percent Recycled Post-Consumer Waste,' our
sales have gone through the roof. We can barely cut down trees fast
enough to meet the demand. I guess the bottom line is, for me, recycling
is all about green."
****Others are taking an even more active role. "We've printed and
distributed over four million pamphlets to raise awareness about the
importance of recycling," said Lori Herbst, founder of San Francisco's
RecycleUSA! "I can't believe how successful the pamphlets have been. The
city's drains are literally clogged with them."

So the answer is to actually convince people to buy your product so that
you can use natural resources faster OR add to the pollution problem with
material trying to tell people to recycle?

Seems to me that a lot more would be accomplished if we didn't have a
system that promotes continually expanded markets and therefore spends an
obscene amount of money convincing us that things we really don't
need are actually necessities.

FRED