cycled materials, more demand will be created for recovered solid waste, and the recycling companies will be interested in a wider and wider range of solid waste items. Until this market expansion occurs, it is not economically feasible for anyone to collect the large quantities of municipal-type solid wastes for recycling.

The technology exists for recovering and recycling practically all forms of solid waste for which there are currently market outlets. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency and Council on Environmental Quality have recognized this fact. The recycling industry today

WHAT IS THE CURRENT RATE OF
RECYCLING?

The recent Battelle statistics in the NARIEPA study shattered many preconceived notions about the current rates of recycling. They showed that a vast potential exists for expanding markets to consume larger tonnages of secondary materials.

For example, in metals, the rate of recycling for copper is 61%; for aluminum, 48%; and for nickel, 40%. These are commodities in greatest demand. In other high-volume commodities, much less is recycled: only 19% of paper stock, 17% of textile wastes, and 16% of zinc. (See chart on this page)

There is a simple reason why the rate of recycling is low in many of the commodities mentioned: some of the materials are of lower value and their collection and processing are too costly to be economically feasible. The current economics of recycling-with the inequitable transportation rates and discriminatory tax policies-coupled with antiquated procurement

policies and outmoded customer prejudicesput us on a course of virgin material-dependence and increased imports from overseas sources. We permit the recoverable values in solid waste to be "lost" because we fail to reorient our national policies to improving the rate of recycling.

Therefore, while recycled materials represent a major component of the total production in some commodity areas, they fall far short of their effective potential.

It has been estimated that more than 2.4 million tons of copper scrap are available for recycling annually ir. the United States (from both old and industrial scrap sources) but only 1 million tons are actually recycled. Perhaps even more dramatic is the statistic for waste paper: more than 48 million tons of waste paper are available for recycling but only 11.4 million tons are actually recycled in a typical year.

The solid waste materials capable of being recycled are there-what is needed is the ex

Secondary Production Accounts for a Major Portion of Raw Material Supply

SCRAP PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL U. S. CONSUMPTION