New report: More Jobs, Less Pollution shows how a 75% national recycling rate in the U.S. can create 1.5 million new, green jobs!

Reducing, reusing, and recycling municipal waste is one of the easiest and most effective means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also provides gainful employment to millions of people in the developing world, mostly in the informal sector (“wastepickers”). Yet rather than supporting these efforts, climate funds such as the Clean Development Mechanism are subsidizing incinerators and landfill gas systems, which compete directly with recycling and increase emissions, unemployment, and public costs. A new, non-market, climate finance mechanism is needed to support the formalization and expansion of the informal recycling sector.

2009 was a busy year for folks fighting incinerators across the US and Canada, with quite a few notable victories! Below is a review of the year, including industry threats, policy debates and community victories. Please take a moment to reflect, be inspired and celebrate, as we all regroup for the year ahead.