by John F. Ruston and Richard A. Denison

About the authors: John F. Ruston is an economic analyst and Richard A. Denison is a senior scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental public interest organization in New York City.

Recycling conserves energy. Much less energy is needed to make recycled materials into new products compared to beginning the process again with new, “virgin” raw materials. By recycling a ton of materials in a typical curbside recycling program, at least $187 worth of electricity, petroleum, natural gas and coal are conserved, even after accounting for the energy used to collect and transport the materials. In other words, the energy conserved through recycling is about five times as valuable as the average cost of disposing of trash in landfills in the U.S....

Curbside recycling programs can be economically competitive with landfilling...