Recycling
Recycling is an attempt to ease the rate at which we waste our limited natural resources. Many cities now have curbside recycling programs to reduce the number of landfills. Many states and cities now have mandatory recycling laws that require return -use or payment of container deposits on beverages. But the United States has no mandatory federal recycling law.
Cry Wolf Quotes
It is impossible to reach a mandated recycling level unless you take all the people in New York City, put them in prison, and force them to recycle.…I think the law is absurd.
Journalists...did a remarkable job of creating the garbage crisis...Mandatory recycling programs aren't good for posterity. They offer mainly short-term benefits to a few groups -- politicians, public relations consultants, environmental organizations, waste-handling corporations -- while diverting money from genuine social and environmental problems.
A 5 cent bottle deposit program typically spends $500 for every ton of cans and bottles collected, which makes curbside recycling look like a bargain. States without mandatory deposits...have proven that the most efficient way to reduce litter is to hire cleanup crews.
Mandatory recycling creates waste and destroys wealth without solving any "problems." It is the equivalent of Soviet planning: the state first micromanages an economic activity and then builds an elaborate system of controls and subsidies to sustain it. Resources are wasted to generate recyclables, and then resources are wasted to encourage their use.
