a reply to:
iDope
Ok here is how it works. This will not hold true for all recyclables or jurisdictions, but for many.
There is no profit in recycling. The profit in recycling is generated by subsidies and grants to the recycling companies.
I call it the difference between salvage and recycle. That's just my terminology though.
Salvage, things like aluminum brass, stainless, etc, these are things that can be returned to raw materials cheaper than new raw materials.
Recyclables are things like plastic, many papers, many cardboards, some glass etc that the cost to return to raw materials is greater than the cost of
new materials.
The cost is not always just money either, many types of recycling require more, sometimes much much more raw materials than new, such as water. It
depends on the materials and the processes used.
The amount of water we use to recycle plastic is staggering.
So what you don't realize is they are not taking your resources for free, you are paying them to take them, because they can't do so profitably.
There is no chance everyone will stop recycling, but if they did, taxes and prices would go down not rise ( (in a vacuum). Absent subsidies, no one
would recycle many materials now recycled until someone found a profitable way to do so.
Certain industries will always have a market for certain recycled materials. Vinyl records are almost always made of recycled lawn furniture or the
like, unless they are colored vinyl, which must be "virgin vinyl"
Basically it works like this.
If you can take it to a salvage center or recycle center and they pay you, it is a profitable material for recycling. If they take it for nothing,
you are subsidizing the acts through govt.
Last guy I knew opening a salvage yard, was 6 years and 10 million invested, and was still awaiting permit and license approval. As much as 5 million
would be non refundable on the event he didn't recieve the license, including the facility he built. Like most other things today, it's a racket.