Recycling Industry In St. Louis Exceeds National Average

Recycling in the St. Louis metropolitan area is a leading industry providing nearly 16,000 jobs and generating nearly $5 billion a year in revenues, according to a recent study commissioned by the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District and conducted by the University of Missouri. The economic impact of the recycling industry in St. Louis exceeds the impact of the industry on a national level by about 25 percent.

According to the Recycling Economic Information Study, the St. Louis recycling industry includes nearly 1,500 businesses that generate $4.9 billion in annual revenue and an annual payroll of about $640 million. Revenues and payroll figures exceed those of such local industries as utilities (gas, electric, water and sewer combined) and food/beverage/tobacco, and are about same as the local chemical and machine manufacturing industries.

"This study clearly shows that recycling means business for the St. Louis region," said Dave Berger, executive director of the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District. "Most people are aware of the environmental benefits of recycling, but the significant economic value is often overlooked."

The St. Louis recycling industry includes a wide range of businesses -- many of which are locally owned small to mid-sized firms -- that recycle, remanufacture and reuse waste products. Among them are material recovery facilities, textile recycling, salvage and resale shops, educational organizations, research and development organizations, compost facilities, scrap metal dealers and construction by-product suppliers.

"We found that recyclables collection and processing rates are above the national average, which may explain why the St. Louis region is a major center of wholesale trading and brokering of recycled materials," said study author Joe Martinich of the College of Business Administration at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. "St. Louis also is above the national average in the use of recycled materials in manufacturing, remanufacturing and reuse, a somewhat surprising finding."

The Recycling Economic Information Study (you need Adobe Reader to acces this site). is the first of its kind for a metropolitan area. The study, conducted by Martinich and Lee Fox of University Outreach and Extension, was modeled after a nationwide Recycling Economic Information Study done in 2001 by the National Recycling Coalition for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Research methodologies including business surveys, economic census data and statistical analysis were used to compare the St. Louis region with the rest of the country.