William Mead, Nederland.

Recycling and sustainability are more crucial now than ever. Managing waste properly not only improves our environment but brings huge economic advantage as well.

In Colorado, $265 million worth of valuable recyclable materials are discarded every year rather than being sold. These materials include metals, cardboard, paper, aluminum, and plastic products, which are often buried in landfills.

In addition, there are 757,000 American jobs involving the handling of recycled waste, totaling $36.6 billion in annual wages.

Those jobs also help bring in $6.7 billion worth of tax revenue. As sustainable waste management continues to be implemented into communities, the economic value of the industry will only grow. Expanding the scope of sustainability could lead to the creation of millions of jobs within decades.

The impact of sustainable practices is huge on an environmental level. Recycling one ton of aluminum, for example, in turn leads to the reduction of 2.7 tons of solid mining and manufacturing waste. Plastic, commonly perceived as a material that is recycled across the globe, is only recycled 14% of the time. Increasing that number is certainly a reasonable and important goal.

Community awareness is arguably the most significant factor to improving the rate at which we recycle as a population. Once a community finds the support to implement sustainable practices, accessibility will lead to economic and environmental improvements.