Recycling myths

Obligatory disclaimer...

I was going to post about some of the successes and failures of the recycling system, but until then, this article covers much of what I was planning to write about, and then some.

The conclusion sums it up very well.

Recycling is a long-practiced, productive, indeed essential, element of the market system. Informed, voluntary recycling conserves resources and raises our wealth. In sharp contrast, misleading educational programs encourage the waste of resources when they overstate the benefits of recycling. And mandatory recycling programs, in which people are compelled to do what they know is not sensible, routinely make society worse off. Market prices are sufficient to induce the trashman to come, and to make his burden bearable, and neither he nor we can hope for any better than that.