08 Jan 2004 The American Enterprise: The Eight Myths of Recycling

A fascinating article, The Eight Myths of Recycling, from the American Enterprise Institute (written by Daniel Benjamin of PERC).

I particularly liked “Myth 6: Recycling Always Protects the Environment.” Part of it says: “Los Angeles has estimated that due to curbside recycling, its fleet of trucks is twice as large as it otherwise would be — 800 vs. 400 trucks. This means more iron ore and coal mining, more steel and rubber manufacturing, more petroleum extracted and refined for fuel — and of course all that extra air pollution in the Los Angeles basin as the 400 added trucks cruise the streets.”

Will anyone from the environmentalist movement comment usefully upon this? Probably not.