As people all over the world become more concerned about environmental issues businesses are popping up all over the place who hope to cash in on the trend of greener lifestyles. This has led to some elements of the recycling and waste management industry to rank among the fastest growing segments of the business world. At first the movement started as a grassroots campaign that saw a few organic food companies, or hemp clothing makers working out of their homes, but now the green technology industry is being looked at by big businesses and corporations as a legitimate way to make a lot of money. This has led to some of the bigger names in the business world getting involved in recycling and waste management.
Some might say that big business is precisely the reason that the world is in the mess that it is currently in and that by allowing them any part in green technology we are allowing them to cash in by cleaning up the mess that they made. While this may be true, without funding most of these projects will never get off the ground so most environmentalists view the participation of big business as a necessary evil of the times. This is why there was widespread dissent about the Carlyle Group, one of the biggest private equity firms in the world, buying Shanks, which is the United Kingdom’s biggest waste management firm. Shanks operates in Europe as well as in the UK and Canada.
The Carlyle Group is obviously trying to position themselves as a leader in the future of green technology, it has yet to be seen if this is a good thing.
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