Should We Recycle?

From the time when you were a small child, you were probably taught the virtues of recycling: paper, plastic, aluminum; you did your part to save the Earth. But a growing number of voices are concerned that recycling may harm the environment by expending more resources than simple trash. Before you decide whether to toss that plastic bottle in the blue bin, what should you consider?

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Waste Management Should be Driven by the Market Pricing

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Agreed ...

There is no question that recycling makes good sense. It is also good sense that government take a hands-off approach. Allowing freedom of choice in the market place is the only sane approach. Government interference in the past and present has created far more expense to the consumer and to business than it avoids. Reducing and eliminating government intrusion in a free market, however, is a much more complex problem to solve than dwindling natural resources and mounting garbage.

If anything, government ought to aid the consumer to watch and determine which businesses are acting responsibly with natural resources and which are not. It ought also aid the consumer in making smart purchase decisions. Where we ought to draw the line is in allowing government to make our decisions for us. That is not a proper role for government of the people, for the people, by the people.

- Naumadd September 12, 2008 3:59PM

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A bad idea

You're putting the fate of our environment and ultimately all of our lives in the hands of businessmen. That's never a good idea.

- Blue Linchpin December 19, 2008 9:13AM

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- Hold on
  
  You're saying you trust the government over the market at delivering such a service correct?
  
  - F2XL December 19, 2008 9:35PM
  
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  - Actually
    
    I think the best people to trust this to are the people themselves, not men in offices. As for myself, we turn all organic goods into compost, try to reuse any plastic or paper, and recycle whatever's left (though usually very little is). However, seeing as how people in our country often seem incapable of getting up and doing anything themselves, the government processing recycling seems the next best option. The worst option, however, is turning control of these things over to those whose concern is money and not what's best for the environment or the people. Nothing is stopping them from tossing it while no one's looking--something companies have been doing in China for example, after taking recycled goods from the U.S.
    
    - Blue Linchpin December 20, 2008 9:34PM
    
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    - Agreed with who to trust the most
      
      I agree the people get things done better than bureaucrats.
      
      "The worst option, however, is turning control of these things over to those whose concern is money and not what's best for the environment or the people. Nothing is stopping them from tossing it while no one's looking--something companies have been doing in China for example, after taking recycled goods from the U.S."
      
      Market-based incentives can already exist in order for businesses not to pollute:
      
      http://cei.org/issue/52
      
      http://cei.org/gencon/005 ,04527.cfm
      
      http://cei.org/gencon/019 ,02897.cfm
      
      http://mises.org/story/2855
      
      Also government is currently our biggest polluter (we both may agree on that):
      
      http://www.adti.net/environment/bndunlop_kasten_1000.html
      
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akaTQxCKiAI
      
      What happened in China though when companies tried to do the same thing?
      
      - F2XL December 20, 2008 11:47PM
      
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      - China's toxic villages
        
        Here's the best link I can find right now, though was just with a very quick search, should have some information in it.
        
        http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/video-chinas-ho.html
        
        - Blue Linchpin December 20, 2008 11:53PM
        
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        On the Current video
        
        All I can see from the video is the fact that China cannot manage all the e-waste it receives from all over the world. Not much about businesses who aren't under government control deciding to pollute the environment.
        
        - F2XL December 21, 2008 5:21PM
        
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        Eh?
        
        You must have missed it. They don't talk about it much but where all that waste is coming from is U.S. companies trying to save money. And that's a huge problem for me: when businesses put profit over things like consumer and environmental safety, like with the melamine tainted milk. Business just shouldn't be trusted with such things, because profit is NOT more valuable than human life. And while as an ancap I'm sure you'd love for there to be no restrictions on these companies, so they are free to dump the recycling waste while no one's looking, that's not what our environment needs.
        
        Another reason for leaving it to the government instead of businesses (though, again, at-home recycling is best) is very few people are going to want to pay to get their recycling done when they can get away with not doing it. Government doing the recycling is more convenient because we just put it out and don't have to worry about it. And as the environment's health is crucial to our survival as a race (I suggest you take a look at the latest WWF report, by the way), this isn't really something we can do half-ass.
        
        - Blue Linchpin December 21, 2008 7:08PM
        
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