Recycling, it’s a big deal, that is until there is no longer a profit to be made.

By David Mantey, Editor, PD&D

"We have a responsibility to make sure we’re being as environmentally conscious as we are financially savvy."

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. A saying that since I was in grade school has been plastered on posters, promoted in PSAs and the subject of several exposés, features, classes, assemblies, meetings, etc. The message has inundated us in that it is our responsibility to do everything in our power to keep our planet inhabitable for our children.

A “community activist” actually showed one of my classes a futuristic cartoon in which our kids went outside to play and came back covered in black soot, coughing like some chimney sweeper with the black lung. Coupled with the Jack Johnson song and the entire Captain Planet series, the heads of the entertainment industry made sure that it was their responsibility to remind us of our responsibilities.

That is, until there’s no longer a profit to be made.

As the commodities market has gone the way of the recession, the message has seemed to go with it. While we are still stressing sustainability and 'going green,' landfills are piling up with bales of cardboard, plastic, metal and glass.

We now have two conflicting ideas: green responsibility vs. economic feasibility. Which will break first?

We live in a nation where going green is only in trend if there is a financial force driving it. Right now, we’re in a wait-and-see mode. Landfills still have some capacity to store the waste as recyclers hope the numbers “bounce back,” but how much longer can we wait?

I understand that many industries are in similar wait-and-see situations, but let’s say the market doesn’t bounce back as fast as we hope/expect/anticipate/desperately beg it to. We can’t revert back to a time when all garbage went in the same heap behind the office.

We do have a responsibility to make sure we’re being as environmentally conscious as we are financially savvy. Especially when we start talking about all the techno waste we’re looking to find a home for – a home that isn’t accidentally repurposed in military spending (Read the BusinessWeek article Dangerous Fakes – it will blow your mind when it comes to counterfeit components - more on that later.) – we need to continue to be involved in the appropriate disposal of waste.

Or maybe that’s just the Captain Planet in me.

What's your take? Send comments to david.mantey@advantagemedia.com.