The degree with which we recycle within the West dictates raw material prices to a pretty high extent. As providers of public services, recycling managers should be able to quantify the costs and benefits of their programs, but the programs should not be judged against producing a specific profit margin.



However, competition also dictates who collects the Garbage in the first place and lower priced contracts can adversely affect how Garbage is treated. Landfill is expensive and is paid for per ton. The price of the contract, coupled with value of recycled raw materials needs to offset the cost of landfill for any Garbage not recycled, the cost of plant, employees and other overheads- otherwise, recycling is not financially viable.

The critical question is not, "Did your recycling program cost the residents money?" Overheads and costs to residents is unavoidable and must be expected. Instead, ask, "Do the recycling costs cut the total cost of disposing your local community's solid Garbage?" Residents expect to pay for garbage disposal, and recycling is simply an alternative method for disposing of their household Garbage.

In the current climate, paying for a recycling solution keeps the recycling program afloat. The resale market is in effect dead, with China and other "manufacturing" countries not buying the resultant raw materials, simply because they can't sell on the finished products they manufacture. The market has simply collapsed and will take a year or two to pick up again. However, to put it bluntly, people need to realise that the earth's resources are finite. Plastics are derived from Oil, steel from iron ore, paper from trees, coton from plantations. Even man made fibres are spun from oil based plastics! In a good financial climate, recycling is a solid Garbage management option and should be judged against competing options such as source reduction, landfilling, incineration and composting. In effect, costs associated with trucks and management of plants could be offset against the financial gains of processing and reselling the resultant raw materials