Is recycling really that cost efficient?

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The discussion centers on the cost efficiency of recycling compared to raw material extraction. While recycling metals like aluminum is often cheaper due to the high costs of extraction, the economic viability of recycling varies across materials. Precious metals may be more cost-effective to extract from ore than to recycle from scrap, despite higher processing costs. The conversation also highlights the environmental imperative of recycling, emphasizing the need to manage waste and preserve non-renewable resources. Current market conditions favor the production of new plastics from petroleum over recycling, but this may change in the future. Proactive recycling can help delay the depletion of resources and prevent future waste management issues, suggesting that market forces alone may not adequately address sustainability concerns.
jimmy p
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Is recycling really that cost efficient? I know that with some metals (eg. aluminium) it is cheaper to recycle because extraction is a ghastly and expensive process, but are there and organic compounds and metals which are cheaper to produce than recycle?
 
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are there none? i only posted it here because we do 'extraction of metals' in chemistry.
 
That really depends on what you mean by recycle. If you're talking about precious metals, for example, then it's obviously cheaper to process ore than to buy scrap, even
if the actual processing costs are higher.
 
Isn't the whole point of recylcing that we keep the planet clean? Garbage has to go somewhere, if you are willing to move (Jimmy) we might use some island as a dumpyard
 
what the...? you can't use Britain as a dumpyard, who would i live with?? is it an offer Monique? Anyway what so good about keeping the planet clean if you are wasting non-renewable resources recycling materials. There are other things to consider.
 
It is also a question of future costs. Now, it is cheaper to make new plastic out of petroleum. Someday, that may not be so. By doing some recycling now, we delay that time. This is one of those things the market can not achieve. Market forces alone would dictate making new plastic, and discarding the old plastic for some time. Then, when recycling becomes profitable, the used plastic would all be in landfills, and not economic to retrieve.

Njorl
 
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