Is the Big Blue Bin the downfall of the recycling industry?

Recently Aaron C. Davis published an article on WashingtonPost.com about some unintended
consequences of the typical recycling process in the U.S.

The common philosophy to promote public cooperation with municipal recycling is to make it easy for residents. Over the past 20 years, we’ve come a long way in changing habits to promote widespread participation in recycling programs. All along though, the economy for recycled material has not grown as fast as the rate of citizens’ taking part in the program.

Several municipalities have attempted to reinforce the economy for recycled materials by simply trying to collect more. What they’ve ended up doing though is sabotaging themselves: by making recycling too easy, they’ve unintentionally invited problems. People are contaminating the recycling to new levels, making the cost of sorting cost-prohibitive.

There are still many other problems facing the recycling industry.

Read the full article about Mr. Davis’ findings.