| GRN Recycle Talk FAQ Answer |
Date: Wed, 13 May 98 12:39 WET DST From: FRIEDMAN.FRED@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV (Fred Friedman) Subject: Re: Cost Benefit of recycling (Chas)
May 13, 1998
Dear Chas,
I believe that I have answered the same question about the costs benefits of recycling on this website several times in the past, and since GRN wisely provides a searchable archives, you should be able to retrieve what's previously been written.
However, to give you a few leads, anyway:
The major costs are: costs of collection and processing, costs to the environment of remanufacturing, costs of labor for any sorting and processing and transport that must go on. Transport is probably the make or break factor in the recycling equation.
The major benefits are: not having to landfill waste, not having to manufacture with virgin materials which are generally more environmentally polluting, and making wiser use of any nonrenewable and some renewable resources, as well as providing far more jobs in the current economy by recycling than one can by a huge factor using any other waste management method.
- Research Library for RCRA