For Immediate Release August 2, 2011
ISRI and NRC Present Rep. John Shimkus with the “Give Recycling a Hand” Award
Co-Chair of the House Recycling Caucus Receives Award in Honor of the Work He Has Done on Behalf of the U.S. Scrap Recycling Industry
Washington, D.C. – The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) and the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) last week presented U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) with the “Give Recycling a Hand” award at a Washington, DC, gala held in his honor.
Along with U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Shimkus Chairs the 107-member, bipartisan House Recycling Caucus. The 26-member Senate Caucus is chaired by U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and last year’s award recipient, U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE).
The Recycling Caucus was created to promote a better understanding of the economic, environmental and energy savings benefits of recycling by providing a permanent infrastructure to help educate Members of Congress and their staff about recycling.
Co-chaired by Shimkus, Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy, the caucus explores opportunities to promote and encourage recycling via legislation and works to address legislation and regulations that inadvertently or unnecessarily limit or inhibit recycling.
“Congressman Shimkus understands the critical relationship between recycling and manufacturing,” said ISRI President Robin Wiener. “We are proud to have an ally in Congress who recognizes that recycling can help conserve our nation’s natural resources, protect our environment, provide good paying jobs, and leave the earth a better place for future generations.”
“In visits to manufacturing facilities, I frequently witness recycling efforts,” said Rep. Shimkus. “Efforts that really help the company, as well as the environment. I applaud this work and thank the industry for this award.”
The award was presented in the same week that ISRI released a new study highlighting the significant economic and environmental contributions of the U.S. scrap recycling industry. The study, commissioned by ISRI and undertaken by John Dunham and Associates, looks at different kinds of economic activity associated with the U.S. recycling industry, including processing, brokering and exporting – and measures both direct and indirect economic impacts - in terms of jobs, wages, taxes and total economic impact - at the national, state and congressional district levels.
The economic analysis shows that the U.S. scrap recycling industry is a major economic engine powerful enough to create 460,000 jobs within the U.S. and generate $10.3 billion in tax revenues for governments across the country, all while making the old new again and helping to protect the earth’s air, water and land for future generations. The study, which can also be broken down into Congressional Districts, shows that in Rep. Shimkus’ district alone, the scrap recycling industry supports 980 direct and induced jobs with a total economic impact of over $195 million. The economic study can be viewed in its entirety at www.isri.org/2011scrapjobstudy.
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A Washington, D.C. based trade association; ISRI represents more than 1,600 private, for-profit companies operating at more than 7,000 facilities in the United States and 30 countries worldwide. ISRI members are processors, brokers and industrial consumers of scrap commodities, including ferrous and nonferrous metals, paper, electronics, rubber, plastics, glass and textiles. ISRI's associate members include both equipment and service providers for the scrap recycling industry.