Everyone knows that recycling conserves the integrity of the environment, reduces the need for landfill and incineration, and decreases greenhouse gas emissions that further aggravate global climate change. Despite all this, Australia is still showing signs of resistance to this better form of living. Suzanne Benn and Damien Giurco made a compelling argument against the status quo and even showed what current situations will lead to if left unchanged:
Currently, the dominant mode of making and using things in our economy involves digging up resources to manufacture products and infrastructure, then discarding to landfill or recycling when we are finished with those materials. This has been dubbed the “take-make-dispose” economy.
… In Australia, about half the waste we generate is being recycled but with continued growth in economic output, the volume of waste going into landfill here continues to rise.
Often, we are throwing away valuable resources in this “linear” model. Without change, this can only get worse as three billion new middle-class consumers enter the global market in the next 15 years.
People can grow more attached to the issue if they see that recyclers, such as reliable scrap metal merchants, are offering more than just a pristine planet. Governments around the globe recognise that salvaging used metals and other precious minerals actually boosts economies in many ways. Australia currently enjoys a good financial outlook because of the strong performance of the mining industry, as well as the excellent job that other industries relying on their sector are doing. What happens, however, when all the minerals have finally been depleted?
Scrap metal buyers offer great potential for infusing large amounts of cash into the national economy. Companies in this business, such as Global Resources International Pty Ltd, operate in such a way that they entice enterprises and people to be scrap metal suppliers in return for financial incentives that increases their purchasing power. These businesses also generate jobs like materials collectors and processors, which are needed to sustain a growing population and can be new sources of government revenues in the form of income taxes.
Other economic benefits that Australia can derive from the services of recycler and used metal scavenging companies include cheaper materials for manufacturers, having more land available for productive use, and even lowering (if not eliminating) the cost of tending to pollution. Both the government and the general public can partake of these benefits once they decide that selling their scrap metals is the right thing to do.
(Source: Explainer: what is the circular economy?, Suzanne Benn and Damien Giurco, February 28, 2014)
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