Garbage Into Gold

What is more American than the luxury of wasting things? On the other hand, what is more American then thinking up ways to make money? Garbage Into Gold shows that capitalism and recycling are compatible; in fact, they ought to get married. With the feel of a news show, this video spotlights a man whose company mines junkyards for re-usable material, a California school that raised $40,000 recycling cans, and a woman who designs shoes from recycled matter. Ever imagine what happens to the hair that falls on the floors of a million beauty salons? One spunky barber sells his clippings to a fertilizer company. The case of the southside Chicago neighborhood working with a chemical engineering plant to start a recycling corps proves that recycling initiatives can create jobs in low-income areas and clean up the ravaged streets at the same time. The examples in this video emphasize the economic viability of recycling and the almost spiritual pursuit of these innovative alternatives. Garbage Into Gold isn't the slickest production around, but its real-life models of environmentally-friendly initiatives are conveyed with excitement and encouragement. Recommended. (A. Laker)