The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), Brussels, has launched a new video promoting the benefits and impacts of the recycling industry and its global economic and environmental benefits.

“Recycling: A Fundamental Part of Industrial Production,” is a three-minute video available on the BIR’s website that provides a brief description of the industry’s objectives, membership, production statistics and history, as well as the BIR’s role in the industry.

The BIR video presents the message that recycling is much more than an alternative to waste disposal, and that material recyclers constitute a vital industrial sector, which contributes significantly to the global economy and protection of environment.

Some key facts and figures presented in the video include industry employment of more than two million people around the world, annual turnover (sales) exceeding $500 billion, and some 500 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions saved thanks to recycling each year.

According to the BIR, the recycling industry is the world’s future leading raw material supplier. Producing raw material through recycling requires less energy and preserves natural resources compared to primary production, the organization says. To keep this important industry growing, free and fair trade to world’s mills and factories must be guaranteed, it adds.

To access the video, visit www.bir.org.