There’s an old English saying: Where there’s muck, there’s brass. Garbage isn’t sexy, but it can be lucrative, if handled correctly—especially when it comes to retrieving and reusing recyclable materials.
The problem is that developed countries, especially the U.S., have historically been dismal at doing that. The average American produces nearly five pounds of waste every day, Environmental Protection Agency data shows. And comparatively little of that gets recycled: around 43% of aluminum cans, 31% of glass, and just 5% of plastics.
