Friday, April 17, 2009

Economic Slowdown Impacts Recycling

We have seen the economic slowdown impact many sectors. Recycling is no different. As the demand for goods has decreased dramatically so has the need to include recycled content in those goods. Some people are arguing that recycling has become too expensive compared to using raw materials in certain cases. However, everybody does it because we are told it is the right thing to do. This article covers the economics of recycling and the problems with our recycling programs.

I like the idea of recycling. In the comments to the article a reader raised a good point: people forgot the first two of the "3 Rs". I personally believe recycling is like donating to charity: people like it, it feels good and it absolves them of responsibility for the problems they are trying to solve because they feel they did their part. Rather than trying to buy less crap or reuse things just throw it in the blue bin and problem solved.

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