Too big to comprehend. (Editor's Focus).

The National Recycling Coalition, Alexandria, Va., and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put a great deal of thought and effort into a new 158-page report that attempts to find out just how large the recycling industry in the U.S. is. The two groups co-sponsored a study conducted by R.W. Beck Inc., Seattle.

The numbers calculated are indeed massive: 56,000 companies in the recycling business, with 1.1 million employees, generating more than $235 billion in annual revenues.

Not long after the study was released, however, critics started questioning the mathematics. As with many studies that measure economic impact, there have been questions over "double-counting," or generous counting to pad the numbers.

The study also attempts to measure the "ripple effect" of recycling, by calculating to what extent recycling companies spend their corporate income on accounting and other services, as well as the payroll and property taxes they contribute to federal, state and local coffers.

While some critics accuse the study of overreaching, a criticism from another direction accuses the study of undercounting an entire recycling industry segment.

William Turley, executive director of the Construction Materials Recycling Association, Lisle, Ill., is certain that those conducting the study missed the tonnage and revenues generated by many concrete and asphalt recyclers, as well as wood recyclers, who process large amounts of material.

In an editorial for our sister publication C&D Recycler, Turley writes, "Nowhere does the study discuss the C&D segment, which conservative estimates put at more than 200 million tons recycled every year. Indeed, the National Asphalt Pavement Association estimated more than a year ago that 86 million tons of asphalt are recycled every year, and the Construction Materials Recycling Association/Portland Cement Association survey showed that more than 100 million tons of concrete were recycled in 1996.

"In fact, this EPA economic impact study says that only 191 million tons of material were recycled (annually in the late 1990s). Nowhere in the study is there an overview of C&D recycling, not even concrete/asphalt recycling. Just think: If you average the price of recycled concrete at $5 a ton, times 100 million tons, you come out with an economic impact to rival a hurricane," he continues.

Turley adds that the study's authors compiled information from companies listed under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 42193, the code that covers recycling companies including scrap yards and C&D recyclers, but that many C&D operations are affiliated with aggregate producers, road building or demolition contractors or excavating firms that would not be placed in the 42193 sector.

Whatever one makes of either criticism, what should not be lost is that the recycling industry has grown to where--much like the national debt--it is becoming too big to be precisely measured.

Although the recycling industry has a tough time speaking with one voice, on this point it should speak in unison: Recycling is not a fad practiced by a handful of eco-warriors, but a major component of many manufacturing industries and a vital part of the American economy.