The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has requested Vice President Mike Pence that all US recycling operations be designated as “essential” to public health and welfare as well as the national economy. ISRI made the request in a letter addressed to the Vice President as states and communities across the US take important steps to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The recycling industry supplies a significant portion of the raw materials needed by manufacturers to produce the goods relied upon by Americans every day, including those needed during this critical time. Here’s an excerpt from the letter:
… We recognize and fully support the need to take these drastic actions in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. However, we urge you to help provide consistency in the determination of what is considered essential by formally recognizing that recycling operations are essential businesses, necessary for the continued supply of raw materials for U.S. manufacturing, including the steel and papermaking industries that are part of the foundation of our country’s manufacturing economy and that are relied upon by Americans every day for producing everything from automobiles, appliances and construction equipment to food packaging, writing papers and toilet paper. The recycling industry is essential to supplying U.S. manufacturing with the materials necessary to produce steel, aluminum, paper, plastics, rubber and many other materials.