Editing Recycling (section)

=== Working conditions and social costs===
[[File:Lixao Catadores 20080220 - Marcello Casal Jr. - Agencia Brasil.jpg|thumb|Some people in [[Brazil]] earn their living by collecting and sorting garbage and selling them for recycling.]]

The recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment can create a significant amount of pollution. This problem is specifically occurrent in India and China. Informal recycling in an underground economy of these countries has generated an environmental and health disaster. High levels of lead (Pb), [[polybrominated diphenylethers]] (PBDEs), [[polychlorinated dioxins]], and [[Polychlorinated dibenzofurans|furans]], as well as polybrominated dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs and PBDD/Fs), concentrated in the air, [[bottom ash]], dust, soil, water, and sediments in areas surrounding recycling sites.<ref name="Sepúlveda10">{{cite journal |last1=Sepúlveda |first1=Alejandra |last2=Schluep |first2=Mathias |last3=Renaud |first3=Fabrice G. |last4=Streicher |first4=Martin |last5=Kuehr |first5=Ruediger |last6=Hagelüken |first6=Christian |last7=Gerecke |first7=Andreas C. |title=A review of the environmental fate and effects of hazardous substances released from electrical and electronic equipments during recycling: Examples from China and India |journal=Environmental Impact Assessment Review |date=2010 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=28–41 |doi=10.1016/j.eiar.2009.04.001 |bibcode=2010EIARv..30...28S }}</ref> These materials can make work sites harmful to the workers themselves and the surrounding environment.

In some countries, recycling is performed by the entrepreneurial poor such as the [[karung guni]], [[zabbaleen]], the [[rag-and-bone man]], [[waste picker]], and [[junk man]]. With the creation of large recycling organizations that may be profitable, either by law or [[economies of scale]],<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/appenda.asp |title = Too Good To Throw Away – Appendix A |publisher = NRDC |date = 30 June 1996 |access-date = 6 November 2012 |archive-date = 24 January 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100124024350/http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/appenda.asp |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/police/stations/ParkStation/2007/07feb08%20park%20newsletter.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513094320/http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/police/stations/ParkStation/2007/07feb08%20park%20newsletter.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Mission Police Station|archivedate=13 May 2012}}</ref> the poor are more likely to be driven out of the recycling and the [[remanufacturing]] job market. To compensate for this loss of income, a society may need to create additional forms of societal programs to help support the poor.<ref name="PBS NewsHour 2010">''PBS NewsHour'', 16 February 2010. Report on the Zabaleen</ref> Like the [[parable of the broken window]], there is a net loss to the poor and possibly the whole of a society to make recycling artificially profitable, e.g. through the law. However, in Brazil and Argentina, waste pickers/informal recyclers work alongside the authorities, in fully or semi-funded cooperatives, allowing informal recycling to be legitimized as a paid public sector job.<ref name="Medina, M. 2000 51–69">{{cite journal |last1=Medina |first1=Martin |title=Scavenger cooperatives in Asia and Latin America |journal=Resources, Conservation and Recycling |date=2000 |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=51–69 |doi=10.1016/s0921-3449(00)00071-9 |bibcode=2000RCR....31...51M |citeseerx=10.1.1.579.6981 }}</ref>

Because the social support of a country is likely to be less than the loss of income to the poor undertaking recycling, there is a greater chance for the poor to come in conflict with the large recycling organizations.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16878461&BRD=1698&PAG=461&dept_id=21849&rfi=6 |title = The News-Herald – Scrap metal a steal |publisher = Zwire.com |access-date = 6 November 2012 }}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=Balon Greyjoy |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92705125 |title = Raids on Recycling Bins Costly To Bay Area |publisher = NPR |date = 19 July 2008 |access-date = 6 November 2012 |archive-date = 11 August 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130811163740/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92705125 |url-status = live }}</ref> This means fewer people can decide if certain waste is more economically reusable in its current form rather than being reprocessed. Contrasted to the recycling poor, the efficiency of their recycling may actually be higher for some materials because individuals have greater control over what is considered "waste".<ref name="PBS NewsHour 2010" />

One labor-intensive underused waste is electronic and computer waste. Because this waste may still be functional and wanted mostly by those on lower incomes, who may sell or use it at a greater efficiency than large recyclers.

Some recycling advocates believe that [[laissez-faire]] individual-based recycling does not cover all of society's recycling needs. Thus, it does not negate the need for an organized recycling program.<ref name="PBS NewsHour 2010" /> Local government can consider the activities of the recycling poor as contributing to the ruining of property.