Recycled Thinking

Today's Freeps argues that maybe building a landfill in Williston--decades after it was first proposed and the land acquired--may not be such a good idea.  The reason: 

The [Chittenden Solid Waste] district said in August that the first phase of the landfill would cost $94 million, up from previous estimates of $20 million to $25 million, and the landfill could cost more than $200 million over its life span.

And the alternative, of course, to building the landfill is....not building it.

Instead of the big landfill, CSWD is focusing on reducing the amount of waste that needs to go into the dump, looking at such things as charging more to haul away trash and making it easier to recycle.

I can agree to charging more to haul away trash, but only if it reflects the true cost of hauling the trash.  That would include the costs of trucking and the "tipping" fees that landfills charge.   We can always raise tipping fees by making it more costly, or nearly impossible, to build a new landfill anywhere in the state.  (The EPA, by the way, reports that the amount of landfill capacity in the U.S. has remained constant over the past two decades, so there's no "shortage" of places to put trash.)  If we do, then the alternative is trucking the waste out of state, with commensurate higher trucking costs (which uses more fuel, which contributes to global warming, which kills polar bears, etc.).

But the phrase "making it easier to recycle" in the editorial is puzzling.  I'm not sure how you make it easier.  Do the trash collectors come into your house on a daily basis and separate out your recycling for you?  Probably not?  Do they allow you to throw your paper, plastic, and metals together into one bin so they can separate it?  They already do that in Chittenden County.   The easier you make it for consumers, however, the more expensive it becomes for someone else--probably the CSWD.  And someone has to pay for those costs.

The implication of the editorial is that recycling actually saves money, presumably by reducing the amount of trash going to the Coventry, VT, landfill and saving on the tipping fees and reducing the need for more landfill capacity.  But there's no mention  in the editorial of what it costs to recycle, and whether the revenues the CSWD receives from selling its recyclables covers the costs of recycling, or whether the $200 million lifetime cost of the landfill is less than the lifetime cost of recycling. 

Simply put (although this is heresy in Vermont), it might just be cheaper to throw stuff out than to recycle it.

Addendum:  Many people who advocate recycling point to the successful recycling efforts during World War II, when tin cans were evidently used to build battleships.  Hugh Rockoff, an economist at Rutgers University, looks at the data and finds otherwise.

Comments

[Gregg Ballou]

profile.imeem.com/kcMWNG/music/Fo6zSbJ3/the_garbage_man_can/ - 99k -
(Homer)
Who can take your trash out?
Stomp it down for you?
Shake the plastic bag?
And do the twisty thingy too?
The Garbage Man!
Yes the Garbage Man can

(Garbage man)
The Garbage Man can
And he does it with a smile and never judges you.

(Marge)
Who can take this diaper?
(Garbage man)
I don't mind at all!

(Chief Wigam)
Who can clean me up
Before the big policeman's ball?
The Garbage Man!

(Garbage man)
Yes the Garbage Man can.

(U2)
The sanitation folks
Are jolly friendly bloaks
Curtious and easy going
They mop up when you're overflowing
And tell you when your ass is showing!

Who can?
Who can?
Who can?
Who can't?

(Homer)
The Garbage Man can

(Lisa/Bart)
'Cause he's Homer Simpson man!

(Everyone)
He cleans the world for you!