October 22, 2008 by Craig
Recycling may or may not be bullshit, but the combination of new programs I’ll be signed up for in 2009 probably are.
The City of Calgary will soon be charging $8 a month for curbside recycling. This is not an optional charge. The program gives you a second garbage can to throw certain trash into. The city will hire people to sort the trash and presumably reclaim it (although I haven’t seen the plan for this explained in any detail).
Also in 2009, I’ll be paying a new fee for for plastic milk bottles. This is over and above the ones I pay for other plastic, glass, and metal containers; there’s several depending on the specific container.
By themselves, neither of these programs are terribly bad. The combination leads to double taxation though. If I throw my containers into the recycling bin, I end up losing the “deposit” I paid at the store, and that charge becomes a direct expense. If I do my own recycling at the local recycling depot to get the deposit back (which, by the way, is not worth my time), then I’m not taking advantage of the curbside recycling that I’m paying for, which amounts to a net loss of value.
I’m not against recycling in principle, but I am against any program that’s based on flawed reasoning or trendiness, and these may qualify. Is the goal really to help the environment? If so, is the benefit worth the environmental costs of maintaining a team of people and fleet of trucks (over and above the regular garbage infrastructure)? Has this cost/benefit analysis been done? Is it public? Why turn “deposits” into “fees” with the overlapping programs? Is the city recycling program keeping the money earned on the provincial deposit returns? If so, is this part of the plan to pay for the program, or was this fact simply swept under the rug? Is this all about feel-good environmentalism without any real benefit?
I’ll welcome any answers that are backed by evidence.