Economics of Recycling: Benefits and Costs Essay

Introduction

Recycling is the process whereby used things are converted to new things. This is done with the intention of reducing the wastage of wasteful materials and also to try and avoid the excessive use of fresh raw materials and the reduction of energy use, environmental pollution, and also to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas. It has vast usage in modern-day waste management.¹

There exist a large range of recyclable materials, which include plastics, glass, textiles, electronics, and paper. These things are collected and then cleaned and processed into new materials, which can be used.

In the strict meaning, the recycling of these materials would mean that they would be recycled to produce exactly the same materials. However, this is not practicable because the production of the same materials tends to be very expensive. It is in this respect that the meaning of recycling encompassed the usage of materials to make other materials without necessarily making the new materials from fresh raw materials. A good example is a paper that is recycled to produce cardboard among other materials.²

Critics have argued that recycling is more expensive than it is capable of saving. Recycling economics deals in analyzing the cost-effectiveness of recycling. Critics also say that it does more harm than good to the environment and social patterns of any community. This essay will try to investigate if recycling makes an economical gain or loss.

Economic benefits

Recycling has some very valuable economic benefits. It is responsible for creating jobs and offers manufacturing industries feedstock and improves a country’s economy generally. This is done when recycled materials are transformed into new and usable products which are then sold.

In employment creating recycling involves various processes, which helps in creating employment opportunities for people. There is a collection of materials that involves private and government-related collectors. There is also the material recovery that also creates employment opportunities for people and there are also the composting and selling institutions that also account for a large number of direct and indirect employment opportunities. Many people leap economic benefits from the employment opportunities created by the recycling collection, processing, and distribution of the manufactured goods³.

It also involves recycling and manufacturing which also creates employment opportunities. Manufacturing industries in steels mills, paper conversion, and plastic conversion are responsible for a high number of employment opportunities. There is also the addition of nonferrous metal manufacturers that also adds employment opportunities to many people.

It also has a downstream economic benefit effect. There are industries that deal in the provision of services and goods to the recycling industry. These industries comprise engineering companies, transportation companies, consulting companies plus many more types of businesses. This provides greatly to the growth of the economy of the country plus extra jobs created by the industries⁴.

Finally, the recycling industry also contributes hugely to the economy in terms of the taxes they pay to the authorities.

Environmental benefits of recycling

As far as the greenhouse gas emission is concerned, recycling has contributed largely to the reduction of the greenhouse gas emission. The energy levels used by various industries in the production of new materials are reduced by very large degrees by the recycling industry. In so doing it contribution is felt heavily in the effort to reduce global warming. Recycling also reduces the harvesting of trees that is a remarkable contribution to the environment considering that trees use a lot of carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. It also reduces emissions from incinerators and landfills because it uses the materials that could have been dumped in the landfills and incinerators to produce new goods⁵.

Recycling plays a very huge role in the reduction of pollutants in air and water. By reducing the usage of fresh raw materials in the manufacturing of products, greatly reduces pollution that emanates from the initial product manufacturing process. It plays a very important role in the reduction of toxins that pollute the air, water, and land. These materials include methane, ammonia, sulfur dioxides, and carbon monoxide. As a result of low energy usage, further reductions are achieved of pollutants.

Energy Benefits of recycling

Recycling also plays a very important role in energy saving. This enhances the achievement of very many environmental benefits. Most industries use energy obtained from the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are scarce especially in recent times and their usage leads to the production of environmental pollutants. Recycling saves energy in the sense that by eliminating the use of fresh raw materials, many processes that are involved from the initial manufacturing of a product to the distribution are eliminated. These processes use a lot of energy that thanks to recycling is saved⁶.

Recycling also saves energy in the sense that when manufacturing goods using recycled materials, the materials have already undergone processing. A lot of energy is saved when the stage of processing is eliminated.

Resource benefit of recycling

Increasing the use of products that are disposable and packaging that is also disposable has seen the rapid exploitation of natural resources. This is particularly bad news to the irreplaceable resources. These materials are especially from the mines. Recycling prevents the usage of natural resources so that it saves the natural resources from being used excessively. Products that are made from raw materials that are from irreplaceable resources when recycled play a great role in preserving the natural resources⁷.

Also, recycled products are sometimes of higher quality than those made from raw materials. A good example is containers made from recycled tin have a more refined tin than those made from virgin tin⁸.

Social benefits of recycling

Recycling also has a lot of social benefits. One social benefit is the improvement of people’s welfare by providing employment opportunities. The study has described how the recycling industry creates a lot of employment opportunities and this, directly and indirectly, is a social benefit.

Recycling also improves the environment and people are generally satisfied when living in a clean and healthy environment free from pollution. This is also another way the recycling industry has benefited various societies throughout the world⁹.

The Cost of Recycling

Energy cost

Many critics of recycling argue that even though it saves a significant of energy when producing goods from recycled materials it also uses a lot of energy on other avenues such as the collection that will entail the use of transport. Transport uses energy. It is also argued that the energy-saving from recycling products is not enough to warrant the recycling of products. Less energy is used when disposing of waste in the traditional landfills than it is used in recycling the products. It is important to note that recycling is a manufacturing process and many of the methods involved use a lot of energy than they save¹⁰.

Working conditions

While recycling is responsible for the creation of a lot of jobs, it is argued that the jobs are low-wage jobs and the conditions of the workplace are far from desirable. This indicates that even though the industry is providing employment for a lot of people it is not the kind of employment that people would want. It has been argued that the jobs offered in the industry do not produce as much cost of wages to remunerate those employments¹¹.

There are also other arguments that some of the work that is involved in the industry is very hazardous for the workers and the surrounding communities. This is because they involve a lot of risks when working them and their processes also pollute the environment thereby endangering the surrounding communities.

Economical cost

Critics also argue that sometimes recycling is not as economical as disposing of waste. The number of resources that are used when recycling far exceeds those that would have been used in wastage disposal. This was been confirmed when in 1996 authorities said that it was cheaper to dispose of New York’s waste in landfills than recycling the waste¹².

In many cases, the cost of virgin raw materials is by far economical than the cost of recycled raw materials. This is especially true for plastic with evidence showing that the price of recycled plastic is forty percent more expensive than virgin plastic raw materials.

Environmental cost

Economists in the past have claimed that recycling paper indirectly reduces the tree population. This is because the paper industry has the right to exploit the forests they have in possession. It works out that when the paper is recycled, the demand for paper goes down and the paper industry does not need to plant more trees because it is not of any economical benefit to the industry. Alternatively, when the paper has not been recycled the demand for paper rises, and so the paper industry is inclined to plant more trees so that it can meet the demand. In so doing, the paper industry is economically gaining. When the industry cut trees more trees are planted to replace the felled trees¹³.

The environmental cost is that with fewer trees grown, there is no carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emission sinks. The best carbon dioxide sinks are trees and with fewer trees, more carbon dioxide is released into the air. This also means that recycling does not particularly helpful in improving the global climate¹⁴.

Resource cost

Many critics of recycling claim that even though it saves a lot of resources on the initial stages of product development, it uses up a lot of resources on other avenues such as the transportation and processing of their products. This is because, they use fossil fuel when transporting the material to be recycled and in their production of the material, a lot of fossil fuel energy is used. The use of oil and coal is very rampant in the industry. There is also a massive usage of electricity and water resources in the industry.

Many critics question the means by which the industry claims to be resource usage efficiency is achieved. There exist a lot of criticism because the resources used by the industry far exceed the resources used when producing goods using virgin raw materials in other manufacturing industries. This is a cost that the industry is inflicting upon the economies of the world¹⁵.

Social Cost

There is a very high likelihood of the poor people in developing countries will come into conflict with the recycling industry. This is because in this country the poor people are the ones that are engaged in small-scale recycling industries. The loss of income of these people cannot be easily compensated by the government social support or the employment opportunity that the industry will offer these people.

There is also the issue of poor working conditions subjected to the employees of recycling companies. The hazards involved are great and they include health hazards. The workers of these companies are at risk of being paid very low wages while at the same time they are providing the very much-needed labor for these activities.

The communities living in the surroundings of these companies are also facing the danger of their environment being polluted by the actions of these companies. The study has proved that the recycling industry is responsible for various environmental pollutions and this will also bring the communities living in the surroundings to be subjected to these environmental pollutions.

Conclusion

The recycling industry has both benefits and costs in its operations. These benefits and costs vary from the material that is being recycled. Recycling has environmental benefits and costs, energy benefits and costs, social benefits and costs, resource benefits and costs, and economical benefits and costs.

In environmental benefits and cost, the environmental benefits that are derived from recycling far exceed the costs. So recycling is very beneficial for the environment and has played a great role in improving the status of the environment as well as improving the global climate. It has helped the environment by reducing the greenhouse effect that negatively affects the global climate¹⁶.

Economically, recycling has proved to be more costly than beneficial. This is because; a lot of income and resources are used when producing the recycled goods. The employment opportunities it gives to the people are not well paying and the people are subjected to bad working conditions.

It is resource beneficial because it does not use natural resources and uses fossil fuel resources at very limited ranges. In its usage of the resources, it also provides for environmental benefits because without using virgin raw materials it enhances the preservation of the environment.

However, the recycling industry is a social burden because for once it does not offer good packages of employment. It also degrades the community by spoiling the environment the people live in.

In a conclusion, it is clear to see that recycling is both beneficial and costly. The degree however is leaning more towards the beneficial side and so the governments should encourage the recycling industry.

Bibliography

Bartone, Carl, Janis Bernstein, Josef Leitmann, and Jochen Eigen. Toward Environmental Strategies for Cities: Policy Considerations for Urban Environmental Management in Developing Countries. Urban Management Programme Policy Paper No. 18. Washington: World Bank, 1994.

Centro Panamericano de Ingeniería Sanitaria y Ciencias del Ambiente (CEPIS). Proceedings of the International Course on Sanitary and Secure Landfills. Lima: CEPIS, 1995.

Haight, Murray E., ed. Municipal Solid Waste Management. Making Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. University of Waterloo Press, 1991.

Maclaren, V.W. Sustainable Urban Development in Canada: from Concept to Practice, Vol. 1: Summary Report. Toronto: Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research, 1992.

Pearce, D., et al. Solid and Hazardous Waste. Blueprint 3: Measuring Sustainable Development. London: Earthscan, 1993.

Shekdar, A.V. Solid Waste Management in India: Compost Facility Planning Guide. Alexandria, Virginia: Composting Council, 1991.

United Nations Centre for Human Settlements. Refuse Collection Vehicles for Developing Countries. Nairobi: UNCHS, 1992.

Footnotes

1. Haight, Murray E., ed. Municipal Solid Waste Management. Making Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. University of Waterloo Press, 1991. 46.
2. United Nations Centre for Human Settlements. Refuse Collection Vehicles for Developing Countries. Nairobi: UNCHS, 1992. 9.
3. United Nations Centre for Human Settlements. Refuse Collection Vehicles for Developing Countries. Nairobi: UNCHS, 1992. 13.
4. Pearce, D., et al. Solid and Hazardous Waste. Blueprint 3: Measuring Sustainable Development. London: Earthscan, 1993. 69.
5. Centro Panamericano de Ingeniería Sanitaria y Ciencias del Ambiente (CEPIS). Proceedings of the International Course on Sanitary and Secure Landfills. Lima: CEPIS, 1995 110.
6. United Nations Centre for Human Settlements. Refuse Collection Vehicles for Developing Countries. Nairobi: UNCHS, 1992. 15.
7. Haight, Murray E., ed. Municipal Solid Waste Management. Making Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. University of Waterloo Press, 1991. 55.
8. United Nations Centre for Human Settlements. Refuse Collection Vehicles for Developing Countries. Nairobi: UNCHS, 1992. 17.
9. Pearce, D., et al. Solid and Hazardous Waste. Blueprint 3: Measuring Sustainable Development. London: Earthscan, 1993. 77.
10. Centro Panamericano de Ingeniería Sanitaria y Ciencias del Ambiente (CEPIS). Proceedings of the International Course on Sanitary and Secure Landfills. Lima: CEPIS, 1995 105.
11. Bartone, Carl, Janis Bernstein, Josef Leitmann, and Jochen Eigen. Toward Environmental Strategies for Cities: Policy Considerations for Urban Environmental Management in Developing Countries. Urban Management Programme Policy Paper No. 18. Washington: World Bank, 1994. 78.
12. Pearce, D., et al. Solid and Hazardous Waste. Blueprint 3: Measuring Sustainable Development. London: Earthscan, 1993. 88.
13. Maclaren, V.W. Sustainable Urban Development in Canada: from Concept to Practice, Vol. 1: Summary Report. Toronto: Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research, 1992. 55.
14. Haight, Murray E., ed. Municipal Solid Waste Management. Making Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. University of Waterloo Press, 1991. 98.
15. Ibid 99.
16. Centro Panamericano de Ingeniería Sanitaria y Ciencias del Ambiente (CEPIS). Proceedings of the International Course on Sanitary and Secure Landfills. Lima: CEPIS, 1995 114.