It's one of the the most frustrating and unfortunate aspects of the U.S. and global recessions: a noble sector, a win-win-win all around, is facing dire times.

The recycling sector is being decimated by the economic slowdown. Many industry players may not survive, the whole process of creating new from the old seems to be stalled, and all over the globe piles of plastic, cardboard, newspaper/paper, and metal, among other re-useables, are piling up, The New York Times reported.

And the reason is obvious enough: demand for consumer goods and other finished products is declining, globally, and that means the chief manufacturing centers of the world - - China being the largest - - don't need the recyclable materials that a year ago were so much in demand, The Times reported. Prices have plunged: paper, down to $20 a ton from $105 a ton; plastic bottles to 2 cents a pound, down from 13 cents a pound; aluminum to 30 cents a pound, from $1 a pound.

Economist Peter Dawson told BloggingStocks expanded storage capabilities during this recession means recyclers will be able to hold more than 10 times the recycled material than during the last U.S. recession in 2001-2002, but there are financial and storage limits.

It's quite a feat for a standard household or a small business to produce little to no waste each day, but that premise was taken home at the Baltimore, Md. transmission plant of General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM). The world's second-largest automaker said that its automotive transmission plant is now recycling and reusing all involved parts as a result of the manufacturing process as well as converting all energy produced by 'waste' products. This means the plant is not producing a single bit of waste that needs to be taken to a landfill. In fact, the plant now is not sending anything at all to any landfills anywhere.

The Baltimore plant makes 189,000 transmissions annually and was set to deposit more than 7,500 tons of waste to nearby landfills. Well, no more, according to GM. The plant is now being charged with manufacturing a dual-mode transmission in concert with BMW and DaimlerChrysler, which will be made available in its full size SUV vehicles later in 2007. These include the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon and Denali, among others.

It's a fascinating move from GM in that the plant that will be making a new type of transmission meant to be used with both electric-based propulsion as well as traditional gasoline engines will be producing no landfill waste. In my book, that's a huge 'green' score for GM in the race to produce more energy-efficient vehicles while not trashing the surrounding environment with waste products that are just as polluting. In other words, kudos to GM on this one.

I have been feeling guilty about not posting in a while but I have been traveling and just came upon something worthy and a terminal that is convenient at the same time. Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) has made big news recently having purchasing an Israeli metal working company named Iscar, his first outside the United States. My day has been spent with Jonathan Medved of Israel Seed Capital, that most notably just sold Shopping.com (another Israeli Company) to eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY)...so what now?

It turns out that a company called GNRY Green Energy has started generating substantial amounts of power utilizing steam generators for industrial use primarily associated with food processing plants. GNRY has taken equipment readily available in the United States and waste product from trees in Israel, and instead of disposing of them in landfills is using them as fuel. By utilizing existing technology, looking backwards -- wood is an ancient fuel -- and extending its usefulness in a way not previously used in these types of factories, they are moving forward by salvaging waste to reduce energy consumption at the plants and conserve precious land.