Obama Urged to Appoint a National Recycling Policy Commission

An Open Letter to United States President Barack Obama, The White House, Washington, D.C.

May 2, 2009

Dear President Obama,

As you must be painfully aware, American society is viewed by people all over the world as being the one nation that has consumed and wasted natural resources at the most unconscionably rapacious rate in all of world history.

Partly for that reason, American society has a moral obligation to establish the most comprehensive and nationwide recycling program of any nation in the entire world.

Mr. President, I urge you to consider appointing a blue-ribbon Presidential National Recycling Policy Commission as soon as possible.

That Presidential advisory commission could develop suggestions on how our entire nation could develop and implement a Comprehensive Nationwide Recycling Program in which each and every American citizen and visitor to the United States will be required by law to participate on a comprehensive basis.


The legal requirement of participation in the proposed comprehensive nationwide recycling program is based on the premise that we Americans do not have the legal right to ourselves deprive any and all future generations of Americans of full access to the great abundance of our nation's natural resources and recyclable materials.

The current widespread unemployment in the United States makes the need for a truly comprehensive nationwide recycling program all the more timely, since a program of that type can massively and pervasively revitalize our entire nation's economy.

A truly comprehensive National Recycling Program to be administered throughout the United States will generate many thousands of new jobs, and, in the long run, millions of new jobs.

It will also protect the American economy by conserving valuable supplies of paper, plastic, aluminum, glass, and other recyclable items that can be used by American businesses.

As for the concern of some that a proposed mandatory-participation recycling program throughout the entire United States would be "a communist program," the exact opposite is in fact the case. The proposed nationwide recycling program would actually protect and strengthen the capitalist system in the United States and elsewhere by yoking it to much greater protection and conservation of natural resources and of the environment. The proposed program would lend moral credence to the capitalist system in our nation, by making it clear that capitalism will no longer involve the unconscionable squandering of natural resources.

Furthermore, the U.S. Government could offer hundreds of contracts to private businesses who would each play a vital role in the proposed comprehensive nationwide recycling program. This, too, would greatly strengthen the capitalist system throughout the United States.

Thank you in advance, Mr. President, for giving full consideration to this urgent recommendation that you establish an American Nationwide Recycling Policy Advisory Commission as soon as possible.

Sincerely and Best Wishes,

John Kevin McMillan of Austin, Texas.