Editing Recycling (section)

=== Net environmental benefits ===
[[File:Steel recycling bales.jpg|thumb|Bales of crushed steel ready for transport to the smelter]]

Critics dispute the net economic and environmental benefits of recycling over its costs, and suggest that proponents of recycling often make matters worse and suffer from [[confirmation bias]]. Specifically, critics argue that the costs and energy used in collection and transportation detract from (and outweigh) the costs and energy saved in the production process; also that the jobs produced by the recycling industry can be a poor trade for the jobs lost in logging, mining, and other industries associated with production; and that materials such as paper pulp can only be recycled a few times before material degradation prevents further recycling.<ref>{{cite book |editor1 = [[Lynn R. Kahle]] |editor2 = Eda Gurel-Atay |title = Communicating Sustainability for the Green Economy |year = 2014 |location = New York |publisher = M.E. Sharpe |isbn = 978-0-7656-3680-5 }}</ref>

The amount of energy saved through recycling depends upon the material being recycled and the type of energy accounting that is used. Correct accounting for this saved energy can be accomplished with [[life-cycle analysis]] using real energy values, and in addition, [[exergy]], which is a measure of how much useful energy can be used. In general, it takes far less energy to produce a unit mass of recycled materials than it does to make the same mass of virgin materials.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morris |first1=Jeffrey |title=Comparative LCAs for Curbside Recycling Versus Either Landfilling or Incineration with Energy Recovery (12 pp) |journal=The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment |date=1 July 2005 |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=273–284 |doi=10.1065/lca2004.09.180.10 |bibcode=2005IJLCA..10..273M |s2cid=110948339 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Oskamp |first1=Stuart |title=Resource Conservation and Recycling: Behavior and Policy |journal=Journal of Social Issues |date=1995 |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=157–177 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-4560.1995.tb01353.x }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pimenteira |first1=C.A.P. |last2=Pereira |first2=A.S. |last3=Oliveira |first3=L.B. |last4=Rosa |first4=L.P. |last5=Reis |first5=M.M. |last6=Henriques |first6=R.M. |title=Energy conservation and CO2 emission reductions due to recycling in Brazil |journal=Waste Management |date=2004 |volume=24 |issue=9 |pages=889–897 |doi=10.1016/j.wasman.2004.07.001 |pmid=15504666 |bibcode=2004WaMan..24..889P }}</ref>

Some scholars use [[emergy]] (spelled with an m) analysis, for example, budgets for the amount of energy of one kind (exergy) that is required to make or transform things into another kind of product or service. Emergy calculations take into account economics that can alter pure physics-based results. Using emergy life-cycle analysis researchers have concluded that materials with large refining costs have the greatest potential for high recycle benefits. Moreover, the highest emergy efficiency accrues from systems geared toward material recycling, where materials are engineered to recycle back into their original form and purpose, followed by [[adaptive reuse]] systems where the materials are recycled into a different kind of product, and then by-product reuse systems where parts of the products are used to make an entirely different product.<ref name="Brown03" />

The [[Energy Information Administration]] (EIA) states on its website that "a paper mill uses 40 percent less energy to make paper from recycled paper than it does to make paper from fresh lumber."<ref name="auto">{{Citation |title=Recycling paper and glass |work= Energy Kid's Page | publisher= U.S. Energy Information Administration |url=http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/saving/recycling/solidwaste/paperandglass.html|archive-date=25 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025173234/http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/saving/recycling/solidwaste/paperandglass.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some critics argue that it takes more energy to produce recycled products than it does to dispose of them in traditional landfill methods, since the curbside collection of recyclables often requires a second waste truck. However, recycling proponents point out that a second timber or logging truck is eliminated when paper is collected for recycling, so the net energy consumption is the same. An emergy life-cycle analysis on recycling revealed that fly ash, aluminum, recycled concrete aggregate, recycled plastic, and steel yield higher efficiency ratios, whereas the recycling of lumber generates the lowest recycle benefit ratio. Hence, the specific nature of the recycling process, the methods used to analyse the process, and the products involved affect the energy savings budgets.<ref name="Brown03">{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=M.T. |last2=Buranakarn |first2=Vorasun |title=Emergy indices and ratios for sustainable material cycles and recycle options |journal=Resources, Conservation and Recycling |date=2003 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1016/S0921-3449(02)00093-9 |bibcode=2003RCR....38....1B }}</ref>

It is difficult to determine the amount of energy consumed or produced in waste disposal processes in broader ecological terms, where causal relations dissipate into complex networks of material and energy flow. 
{{Blockquote|[C]ities do not follow all the strategies of ecosystem development. Biogeochemical paths become fairly straight relative to wild ecosystems, with reduced recycling, resulting in large flows of waste and low total energy efficiencies. By contrast, in wild ecosystems, one population's wastes are another population's resources, and succession results in efficient exploitation of available resources. However, even modernized cities may still be in the earliest stages of a succession that may take centuries or millennia to complete.<ref name="Decker00">{{Cite journal |title = Energy and Material flow through the urban Ecosystem |first1 = Ethan H. |last1 = Decker |first2 = Scott |last2 = Elliott |first3 = Felisa A. |last3 = Smith |first4 = Donald R. |last4 = Blake |first5 = F. Sherwood |last5 = Rowland |author-link5 = Frank Sherwood Rowland |journal = [[Annual Review of Energy and the Environment]] |volume = 25 |issue = 1 |doi = 10.1146/annurev.energy.25.1.685 | doi-access=free |date = November 2000 |pages = 685–740 |oclc = 42674488 |citeseerx = 10.1.1.582.2325}}</ref>{{rp|720}} }}
How much energy is used in recycling also depends on the type of material being recycled and the process used to do so. Aluminium is generally agreed to use far less energy when recycled rather than being produced from scratch. The EPA states that "recycling aluminum cans, for example, saves 95 percent of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from its virgin source, [[bauxite]]."<ref>{{ cite web | publisher=Environmental Protection Agency | url= http://www.epa.gov/msw/faq.htm#5 | title= How does recycling save energy? | work=Municipal Solid Waste: Frequently Asked Questions about Recycling and Waste Management | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927081802/http://www.epa.gov/msw/faq.htm#5 |archive-date=27 September 2006 | url-status= dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/aluminum/pdfs/aluminum.pdf |title = Energy and Environmental Profile of the U.S. Aluminum Industry | date= July 1997 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110811191240/http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/aluminum/pdfs/aluminum.pdf |archive-date = 11 August 2011 | last = Margolis | first = Nancy | work = US Department of Energy }}</ref> In 2009, more than half of all aluminium cans produced came from recycled aluminium.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/recycling-aluminum-cans-versus-plastic-2375.html |title = The Recycling of Aluminum Cans Versus Plastic |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111026202731/http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/recycling-aluminum-cans-versus-plastic-2375.html |archive-date = 26 October 2011 | first=Jacqueline | last= Lerche | date= 2011 | work = National Geographic Green Living | publisher= Demand Media}}</ref> Similarly, it has been estimated that new steel produced with recycled cans reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 75%.<ref>{{ cite web | url=http://www.cancentral.com/recycling-sustainability/facts | title= By the Numbers | work = Can Manufacturers Institute | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819191925/http://www.cancentral.com/recycling-sustainability/facts |archive-date=19 August 2019 }}</ref>

{{blockquote | quote = Every year, millions of tons of materials are being exploited from the earth's crust, and processed into consumer and capital goods. After decades to centuries, most of these materials are "lost". With the exception of some pieces of art or religious relics, they are no longer engaged in the consumption process. Where are they? Recycling is only an intermediate solution for such materials, although it does prolong the residence time in the anthroposphere. For thermodynamic reasons, however, recycling cannot prevent the final need for an ultimate sink.<ref name="Brunner99">{{cite journal |last1 = Brunner |first1 = P.&nbsp;H. |year = 1999 |title = In search of the final sink |journal = Environ. Sci. & Pollut. Res. |volume = 6 |issue = 1 |page = 1 |doi = 10.1007/bf02987111 |pmid = 19005854 |bibcode = 1999ESPR....6....1B |s2cid = 46384723 }}</ref>{{rp|1}}|source= P.&nbsp;H. Brunner}}

Economist [[Steven Landsburg]] has suggested that the sole benefit of reducing landfill space is trumped by the energy needed and resulting pollution from the recycling process.<ref name="landsburg">Landsburg, Steven E. ''[[The Armchair Economist]]''. p. 86.</ref> Others, however, have calculated through life-cycle assessment that producing recycled paper uses less energy and water than harvesting, pulping, processing, and transporting virgin trees.<ref>Selke 116{{full citation needed | date= September 2023}}</ref> When less recycled paper is used, additional energy is needed to create and maintain farmed forests until these forests are as self-sustainable as virgin forests.

Other studies have shown that recycling in itself is inefficient to perform the "decoupling" of economic development from the depletion of non-renewable raw materials that is necessary for sustainable development.<ref name="Grosse10">{{cite journal |last1 = Grosse |first1 = François |first2= Gaëll | last2= Mainguy |year = 2010 |title = Is recycling 'part of the solution'? The role of recycling in an expanding society and a world of finite resources |journal = S.A.P.I.EN.S |volume = 3 |issue = 1 |pages = 1–17 |url = http://sapiens.revues.org/index906.html |access-date = 15 October 2010 |archive-date = 5 April 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100405190747/http://sapiens.revues.org/index906.html |url-status = live }}</ref> The international transportation or recycle material flows through "...&nbsp;different trade networks of the three countries result in different flows, decay rates, and potential recycling returns".<ref name="Sahni11">{{Cite book |last1 = Sahni |first1 = S. |last2 = Gutowski |first2 = T. G. |chapter = Your scrap, my scrap! The flow of scrap materials through international trade |title = IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST) |year = 2011 |pages = 1–6 |doi = 10.1109/ISSST.2011.5936853 |chapter-url = http://web.mit.edu/ebm/www/Publications/IEEE_2011_int_trade_sahni.pdf |isbn = 978-1-61284-394-0 |s2cid = 2435609 |access-date = 1 March 2012 |archive-date = 17 December 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201217153943/http://web.mit.edu/ebm/www/Publications/IEEE_2011_int_trade_sahni.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref>{{rp|1}} As global consumption of a natural resources grows, their depletion is inevitable. The best recycling can do is to delay; complete closure of material loops to achieve 100 percent recycling of nonrenewables is impossible as micro-trace materials dissipate into the environment causing severe damage to the planet's ecosystems.<ref name="Steffen10">{{cite journal |last1=Lehmann |first1=Steffen |title=Resource Recovery and Materials Flow in the City: Zero Waste and Sustainable Consumption as Paradigms in Urban Development |journal=Sustainable Development Law & Policy |date=15 March 2011 |volume=11 |issue=1 |url=https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/sdlp/vol11/iss1/13/ |access-date=8 April 2021 |archive-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625110346/https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/sdlp/vol11/iss1/13/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Zaman11">{{cite journal |last1 = Zaman |first1 = A. U. |last2 = Lehmann |first2 = S. |year = 2011 |title = Challenges and opportunities in transforming a city into a 'Zero Waste City' |journal = Challenges |volume = 2 |pages = 73–93 |doi = 10.3390/challe2040073 |issue = 4 |doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="Huesemann11">{{cite book |last1 = Huesemann |first1 = M. |last2 = Huesemann |first2 = J. |year = 2011 |title = Techno-fix: Why Technology Won't Save Us or the Environment |publisher = New Society Publishers |page = 464 |isbn = 978-0-86571-704-6 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bHOS4sITc3wC |access-date = 7 July 2016 |archive-date = 20 February 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230220183216/https://books.google.com/books?id=bHOS4sITc3wC |url-status = live }}</ref> Historically, this was identified as the metabolic rift by [[Karl Marx]], who identified the unequal exchange rate between energy and nutrients flowing from rural areas to feed urban cities that create effluent wastes degrading the planet's ecological capital, such as loss in soil nutrient production.<ref name="Clark09">{{cite journal |last1=Clark |first1=Brett |last2=Foster |first2=John Bellamy |title=Ecological Imperialism and the Global Metabolic Rift: Unequal Exchange and the Guano/Nitrates Trade |journal=International Journal of Comparative Sociology |date=2009 |volume=50 |issue=3–4 |pages=311–334 |doi=10.1177/0020715209105144 |s2cid=154627746 }}</ref><ref name="Foster11">{{cite book |last1 = Foster |first1 = John Bellamy |last2 = Clark |first2 = Brett |year = 2011 |title = The Ecological Rift: Capitalisms War on the Earth |publisher = Monthly Review Press |page = 544 |isbn = 978-1-58367-218-1 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VGzJQgAACAAJ  |archive-date = 20 February 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230220183223/https://books.google.com/books?id=VGzJQgAACAAJ |url-status = live }}</ref> Energy conservation also leads to what is known as [[Jevon's paradox]], where improvements in energy efficiency lowers the cost of production and leads to a rebound effect where rates of consumption and economic growth increases.<ref name="Huesemann11" /><ref name="Alcott05">{{cite journal |last1=Alcott |first1=Blake |title=Jevons' paradox |journal=Ecological Economics |date=2005 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=9–21 |doi=10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.03.020 |bibcode=2005EcoEc..54....9A |hdl=1942/22574 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

[[File:Demolition Depot W125 St dusk jeh.jpg|thumb|This shop in New York only sells items recycled from demolished buildings.]]