Cleantech Report:

Recycling Industry Offers Recession Proof Investing

    NEW YORK, April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Between record high

oil prices, the volatile stock market and a recession, it's a tough time to

be an investor. But there's a little known bright spot on the market that

actually benefits from high oil prices -- the Recycling Industry.

    In fact, the Recycling Industry offers investors one of the few ways to

profit during the current recession, according to a report released by

Progressive Investor, "Investing in Recycling."

    "Ever escalating energy prices, commodity price inflation and scarcity,

and global environmental concerns have coalesced into a "perfect storm" for

the industry," says Eric Prouty, Senior Energy Analyst, Cannacord Adams.

    Many people aren't aware of the central role the recycling industry

plays these days. It has become a backbone of our economy, pulling in $236

billion in revenues last year and employing over a million people. The

industry accounted for about 2% the U.S. gross domestic product in 2007.

    At the current rate of resource depletion, especially from emerging

economies like China, the world literally can no longer satisfy demand for

paper and steel from virgin materials alone. Recycling has become an

absolute necessity for industrial growth and stability. We couldn't print a

newspaper, build a car, or ship a product in a cardboard box without

recycled materials.

    "Although we usually think of the benefits of recycling as reducing

waste and protecting forests and habitats from mining and clearcutting,"

says Rona Fried, editor of Progressive Investor, "it is also a key solution

for climate change. Making new materials from old ones is a classic example

of energy efficiency -- it vastly reduces the amount of energy (and

resulting emissions) required to support our economy."

    For example, making aluminum from scrap uses 96% less energy than from

virgin minerals, while making iron and steel from scrap requires 74% less

energy. Two thirds of the steel produced in U.S. is now made from recycled

materials.

    Progressive Investor identifies the following trends benefiting the

Recycling Industry:

    -- The higher energy costs go, the more economically valuable are recycled

       materials. Example: energy accounts for 20-30% of the cost to make

       metals such as aluminum and zinc.

    -- Metal prices are rising sharply from strong demand - partly from growth

       in India and China -- creating strong economic incentives to recycle

       all kinds of metals

    -- Recycling benefits from the attention to climate change for its ability

       to reduce the energy intensity of manufacturing and methane generated

       by landfill waste.

    -- Growing recognition that natural resources are scarce, finite, and

       increasingly expensive to mine. Example: virgin copper and zinc

       supplies could be completely exhausted within decades.

    -- Rising concerns about pollution from discarded electronics