Angela Martin

ECON2010

Is the Recycling Benefits vs. Costs Really Right for Me?

Many people recycle every day to get that feeling of joy when you do something good for
the environment. But is recycling good for the economy or just the environment? The costs of
recycling most certainly has an effect on the economy, but is this effect lean more to being
beneficial or costly?
Public recycling is available to many households, businesses, and even parks all over the
country. In 2002, there were 8,875 residential curbside recycling programs in the United States,
according to BioCycle magazine. But recycling may not be justifiable on the economic
prospective. Communities are finding it's difficult to continue their recycling programs when the
costs of recycling outweigh the benefits.
According to an article in the Environmental Health Perspectives Journal, it costs $28 per
ton to landfill waste compared to $147 a ton to recycle. In Atlantic County, New Jersey, selling
recyclable goods brings in $2.45 million. But the cost of collecting and sorting the recycled
materials, including interest payments on the recycling facility, costs the county over $3 million.
We can see that overall the costs of recycling are much higher than that of traditional landfill
waste.
Even with the costs of recycling, people also argue that recycling has a higher negative
effect on the environment. The toxins produced by the recycling plants, as well as the garbage
trucks used to collect the recycle materials, lower the human health. We can then take into

account the costs that come with improving our health and the environment. This will create an
unending circle of the unnecessary costs of improving the environment and human health
because of recycling. Pretty ironic when you think about it.
Also, the costs to recycle are usually more expensive than the manufacturing costs of
producing virgin materials. Materials such as plastics, which represent up to 26% by volume of
the municipal solid waste recycled in the United States, are more expensive and time consuming
to recycle than to produce. Theres a positive cost effect to manufacture virgin plastics rather
than recycled plastics. This means that in the case of recycling plastic, it would be more
beneficial for the economy to send plastic waste to the landfill, rather than to recycling plants.
The manufacturers of virgin plastic materials are going to produce their products even if whether
or not they are also being recycled. In this case, the economy should only support the production
of one and eliminate the costs of the other.
Studies of landfills have proven to be environmentally safe. According to the EPA, solid
waste landfills cause only one additional cancer risk every 13 years. Today, modern landfills
must also be lined with clay and plastic, equipped with drainage and gas-collection systems,
covered daily with soil and monitored every day for underground leaks. In addition, although
landfills are a major source for methane emissions, the United States EPA has helped to reduce
individual landfill methane emissions by 60% to 90% through encouraging the use of landfill gas
as an energy resource.
Economists also suggest that some levels of recycling is suitable from an economic
standpoint. They also say that it's a relatively young business whose systems and technologies

are still developing. We must also take into consideration that the costs and benefits of recycling
and other methods of waste disposal vary greatly from one area to another.
Michael Shapiro, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys Office of Solid
Waste, also weighed in on the benefits of recycling: A well-run curbside recycling program can
cost anywhere from $50 to more than $150 per ton. Trash collection and disposal programs, on
the other hand, can cost anywhere from $70 to more than $200 per ton. This demonstrates that,
while theres still room for improvements, recycling can be cost-effective. He argues that they
just need to improve their methods, then recycling can be cost effective.
Many recyclers argue that recycling protects the environment by saving resources,
energy, and raw materials. It also reduces the problem of rapidly diminishing landfill capacity,
which is a problem because people don't pay the full costs of landfill disposal. Many economists
would see this as being economically cost effective.
Most often argued is that recycling is good because it creates job. According to
Minneapolis Star Tribune, recycling accounts for 8,700 manufacturing jobs in Minnesota, with
paychecks totaling over $1 billion. A July 2004 study from the Montana Department of
Environmental Quality reported employment of 300 full-time workers with above average wages
and gross revenues for the industry of $90 million.
When you recycle 10,000 tons of waste, you create 36 jobs. Unlike jobs in waste
disposal, jobs in the recycling industry add value to the materials, as such contribute to a growing
labor force of skilled workers, such as material sorters, dispatchers, truck drivers, sales
representatives, process engineers and even chemists.

To an economist, giving 300 full-time workers with above average wages and gross
revenues of $90 million may not a necessarily be a benefit. If our tax revenue wasnt paying
someone to sort cans and bottles in a recycling processing facility, that money could be used in
some other way, perhaps paying teachers to educate children, or never collecting the tax in the
first place, both of which might have a greater social benefit.
Now obviously people can choose to reduce their purchases and reuse their recyclable
items and try to make a difference that way. But the producers of recyclable materials will keep
producing the same amount of items, unless there is enough people to do this to create a drop in
the demand for the product, it wont really make a difference.
I am not an active environmentalist or completely against recycling. I like to see the
reality in the decisions I am making. Yes, I do have a curbside recycle bin as well as a recycle bin
for the landfill. However, I dont have a recycle bin because I want to recycle, its because
having a recycle bin is $10 cheaper than a landfill garbage bin and all my waste cant fit in one
bin. Honestly, if I could function with only one, I would choose to only have the landfill bin so I
wouldnt get charged for putting non-recyclables in the recycle bin. This would be my decision
because it is economically efficient for me.
To me personally, I really am not to the point of worrying about whether recycling is
good or bad. I can see that it is still in the developmental stage and has its issues that can be
improved. As of now some recycling plants are under control and are capable of making a profit
and others arent. If eliminating the cost of the recycling process means that I wont have to pay
taxes for that service, I may or may not vote against it. I dont know yet if recycling does in fact
have a beneficial value to me as an individual or not. Only time will tell.

Sources:

http://www.all-recycling-facts.com/recycling-benefits.html
http://dnr.mo.gov/env/swmp/pubs-reports/rececon.htm
http://www.economist.com/node/9249262
https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/fedgazette/recycling-righteous-or-

rubbish#top
http://www.english.umd.edu/interpolations/2601
http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/benefit_vs_cost.htm