Green New Deal Plan - Manufacturing Reconstruction Program
Recycling
In order for the manufacturing system to be sustainable in the very long-run, the inputs have to be recycled from previously used goods. With the possible exception of some particularly plentiful resources such as iron and silicon, all other raw materials are being depleted at a rate that most will be gone within a century. Some resources, such as oil, may become too expensive for mass use in the next decade. In addition, mining causes serious environmental damage, as well as polluting precious water supplies.
Solid Wastes and Hazardous Waste
According to the ASCE, solid waste management is one of the better infrastructure programs in the United States. However, the Green New Deal foresees the eventual elimination of solid waste. Therefore, money for solid waste improvement is part of the recycling program in the Green New Deal. In the same way, hazardous sites should eventually disappear, because the Green New Deal will pay for the installation of nonpolluting manufacturing machinery.
A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that if 75% of the solid wastes in the U.S. were recycled, that 1.5 million extra jobs would be created. These are, on average, relatively lower skilled jobs, so they would yield closer to 15 jobs per million dollars. Let's say 10% are for the making the machinery for recycling.
Reading List:
We don't mine enough rare metals...
Humanity risking global disaster as material consumption passes 100 billion tons