The blue bin is for recycling. We all know that. Plastics are bad, paper is good. Recycling saves the environment. Right?
But have you ever wondered where it came from? In other words, why do we recycle vs. the landfill? The answer to this question may surprise you as it is less scientific that you would imagine.
While recycling is a good thing and something we should do, it began as the dream of an industrial Southerner from Alabama. The story goes that in the 80s, Lowell Harrelson had the great idea to purchase garbage from the New York mafia (at that time the Mob controlled all garbage collections in New York) and use it to generate energy. It was then that recycling was born. The idea that your garbage could be re-used or recycled into something else and that this something else could make money.
Want to find out more? Listen to the full story below.
