Brenda Platt

Brenda Platt is the director of Materials Recovery for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, an education and research organization on environmental and economic policies. In the following viewpoint, Platt contends that many arguments used against recycling are based on ill-founded myths. Recycling programs can be cost-competitive with trash collection, landfills, and incinerators, she argues. Furthermore, recycling programs create more jobs than landfills and incinerators, Platt asserts. Intervention by the public sector in waste disposal is needed only to ensure that complex laws and regulations concerning waste disposal are not biased against recycling.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What percentage of the waste stream could be recycled, according to studies cited by the author?
2. What should be considered when determining whether recycling and composting is cost-competitive with conventional means of trash collection and disposal, according to...