THE ECONOMICS OF RECYCLING The Economics of Recycling

Many Americans are under the impression that one of the best ways to control waste is to recycle products. Consumers have been encouraged to recycle everything from newspapers to glass to aluminum cans. However, recent studies have shown that, from an economic standpoint, recycling is not a panacea to all the evils presented by waste management issues.

Thus, many businesses and communities in America are now rethinking the concept of recycling. Many experts now agree that, at least from an economic standpoint, recycling is not the best solution to waste management problems in America. In order to discuss the economic aspects of recycling, some of the critics of the current recycling trend have emphasized an analysis of recycling from certain basic economic aspects. Specifically, the concept of supply and demand, as they apply to recyclable products, needs to be considered. The concept of supply and demand is oft-quoted in various contexts and is often misunderstood. The economic concept of supply and demand is really comprised of two separate ideas which are usually used together to d

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landfill space is not too scarce, too expensive, or too difficult to develop" [Emphasis added] (Nordstrom, 1994, p. 15). Many ecologists disagreed with the idea of developing more landfills because they believed that, from an ecological viewpoint, it was better to divert trash before it arrived at a landfill by sending it to a recycling plant. But, as one article noted, although "diverting the tons of wastepaper that end up in landfills each years (36 million tons in 1992 by industry estimates) makes a lot of sense ecologically . . . it didn't make sense economically" (Triplett, 1994, p. 2). And so, by the early 1990s, most economists agreed that recycling products was far more expensive than putting them in a landfill and, thus, that landfills were the best solution to the garbage crisis in America (Griffen, 1992, p. 247). Another one of the main arguments which leading economists made against plans to increase recycling efforts in America was therefore that "large scale recycling could be seen as leaving taxpayers and users of solid waste disposal services paying a larger bill" (Griffen, 1992, p. 247). Moreover, landfill proponents believe that recyclables collection is too costly for rural areas (Griffen, 1992, p. 247).
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Approximate Word count = 3137
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)

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