Three-quarters of all Americans recycle at home, making recycling one of the nation's most popular environmental activities. Skeptics argue that recycling does little to help the environment and often costs more than burying waste in landfills, but rising energy prices and concerns about climate change are strengthening the supporters' case. Making new goods from scrap metal, glass or paper uses less energy and generates fewer greenhouse gases than extracting and processing virgin materials. Today the U.S. recycles more than 30 percent of its municipal solid waste, and advocates say that figure could be much higher. Diverting more waste from landfills, however, will involve finding ways to handle new materials such as food scraps. Meanwhile, a growing stream of junked computers, televisions and other electronic trash -- much of it containing toxic materials -- is forcing manufacturers to take responsibility for disposing of their products.

Jennifer Weeks is a freelance writer in Watertown, Mass., who specializes in energy and environmental issues. She has written for The Washington Post, The Boston Globe Magazine, Environment, On Earth and other publications, and spent 15 years as a congressional staffer, lobbyist and public policy analyst. She holds a B.A. from Williams College and master's degrees from the University of North Carolina and Harvard University.