Figure 21-12 lists the advantages and disadvantages of
recycling (Concept 21-3). Whether recycling makes economic
sense depends on how you look at its economic
and environmental benefits and costs.
Critics say recycling does not make sense if it costs
more to recycle materials than to send them to a landfill
or incinerator. They concede that recycling may make
economic sense for valuable and easy-to-recycle materials
such as aluminum, paper, and steel, but probably
not for cheap or plentiful resources such as glass made
from silica. They also argue that recycling should pay
for itself.
Proponents of recycling point out that conventional
garbage disposal systems are funded by charges to
households and businesses. So why should recycling be
held to a different standard and forced to compete on
an uneven playing field? Proponents also point to studies
showing that the net economic, health, and envi-ronmental benefits of recycling (Figure 21-12, left) far
outweigh the costs. They argue that the U.S. recycling
industry employs about 1.1 million people and that
its annual revenues are much larger than those of the
waste management industry.
Cities that make money by recycling and have
higher recycling rates tend to use a single-pickup system
for both recyclable and nonrecyclable materials, instead
of a more expensive dual-pickup system. Successful
systems also tend to use a pay-as-you-throw approach.
San Francisco, California (USA), uses such a system to
recycle almost half of its MSW.