OT recycling (was: Re: Information security, recycling and irony)

[bmcculley at rcn.com]

---- Original message ----
>From: Bill McGonigle <bill at bfccomputing.com> 

>
>Regarding what's worth recycling, I've looked into this a bit 
>recently as I got volunteered to be the chairman of my town's 
>waste collection group.  About 5% of plastics wind up being 
>recycled, there simply aren't enough buyers for the amount of 
>volume that's available and it's a money loser due to 
>supply/demand economics.  Aluminum and Cardboard make money,
>recyclers want this.  So is steel in today's market.  But 
>the boarder economics of it are complex.  If everybody in 
>town has to drive their recycling to a transfer station, it's 
>not worth it.  The cost of gas and vehicle maintenance  
>outweighs the energy savings and landfill costs.  In these 
>towns, the recycling program is "feel-good" though the town 
>can make money itself (but not at a rate to offset the 
>citizens' cost of deliver, especially if you look at 
>opportunity costs).  The only model that's viable 
>environmentally and economically is curbside recycling where 
>the incremental fuel used for each house is the distance 
>between houses.  After sale of materials, these programs 
>are about break-even, which is still good because you don't 
>have costs associated with landfills/ash dumps.

In our town everyone has to drive their trash to the transfer
station / recycling center, regardless of whether they recycle
(recycling is supposedly mandatory, though that's often
ignored by those under the anti-authority spell of Penn &
Teller).  Used to be they had to drive to the landfill.  So
the cost model hasn't changed, and recycling now offers a cost
reduction through reduced tipping fees.

That's the real point, some materials (eg aluminum) are
profitable to recycle, others (newsprint) are often worthless
on the market but still worthwhile even at the cost of paying
a small removal fee instead of a much larger tipping fee.

Also, we figure our town got about five years extra life out
of the landfill by implementing recycling and delaying
closure.  Cost avoidance is a very real and tangible benefit.

-Bruce McCulley