What are the costs of not recycling?

Answer 1

There are no cost for recycling, but there might be for some country/city/state.

[mec3usa] Assumptions made:

1) crude oil and coal are consumables -- they are depleted much faster than they are made

2) ground water is drawn much faster than it is replenished

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* waste will pill up somewhere; the landfill becomes bigger and bigger

* you build more landfills, which are farther and farther from population centers

* the transportation of waste consumes energy from crude oil

* we need to harvest more trees to make paper products

* need to mine more minerals to make up the aluminum or metal cans that go to the landfill; mining requires energy and water

* need more crude oil to make the base for new plastic materials

* energy costs not only go up but the source of energy is also dwindling

* the less we recycle or the more we consume, the less the crude oil/coal available to drill and the higher the energy costs

* if this continues, eventually it takes the same amount of energy you get just to harvest the crude oil/coal; what is the point of that?

* ground water is dried up; not all population centers are near a river or lake; so people have to move to near whee the fresh water is located; the water from the river or the lake will be withdrawn faster than rainfall; the river or lake dries up too

* deforestation because of cutting too many trees causes flooding and soil erosion

* of course we cannot just extrapolate the way I did; but the standard of living will surely suffer; our descendants will have less energy and water to use. We may not suffer in this generation, but surely our grandchildren will see the effects of using energy and water willy-nilly now.