Sustainability and Recycling

Please provide a 1-3 paragraphs for each question and provide APA references:
1. Discuss the challenge of recycling plastic and what business opportunities there might be
2. How important is the subtlety of not being labeled as a "consumer" within the role of sustainability?
3. Please watch this video to get an idea: http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_biddle.html

Example:
Discuss the challenge of recycling plastic and what business opportunities there might be.
I was very surprised to hear that recycling plants around the world handle about one million pounds of discarded stuff, which is less than one percent of durable goods that are disposed every year around the world (Biddle, 2011). In regions like in Europe they have recycling plans in place that require recycling to be done in a responsible manner which is very sad to hear because the U.S. does not have any recycling plans and we are supposed to be leading the way for other countries. Unfortunately, plastics have a less than 10 percent recycling recovery. Most plastic is incinerated or sitting in a landfill. According to Biddle, Plastics produced and consumed around the world on a volume basis every year than steel and plastics are several times more valuable than steel. It is unfortunate that plastic is not recovered and recycled more but Biddle describes that situation that sorting and separating materials has something to do with plastic because of the different densities, colors, and electrical & magnetic properties. The business opportunities like Biddle did are to create a way to sort these plastics and be able to reuse them. Biddles way is saving CO2 and having more sustainable products. So why wouldn't current recycling plants want to establish Biddles process, its a win-win for the plant, the people, the products and the environment.

How important is the subtlety of not being labeled as a "consumer" within the role of sustainability?
Being a "consumer" labels you as just having a product until you don't need it anymore or until it breaks then it becomes someone else's problem or property. As a consumer we are getting rid of these "broken" products and allowing these plastic products to sit in a landfill somewhere in the world for future generations to deal with but by transforming these products into something we can enjoy now and future generations can too.