Former Times

摘要

The September 1994 issue of Resource Recycling featured the results of an extensive survey that assessed the costs of recycling around the nation. The primary takeaway: The average cost per ton for recycling was roughly three times more than the average cost per ton for refuse. But the firm undertaking the research, Ecodata, Inc., also concluded that as diversion rates increase, recycling costs drop dramatically, a powerful statistic for recycling coordinators aiming to convince decision-makers of the long-term economic benefits tied to successful materials diversion. The study looked at trash and recycling collection in 60 randomly selected municipalities and split the locales into two categories: cities that handled their own recycling collection and those that relied on contract recycling collection. For cities that used a municipal system for recycling collection, the average cost per ton of recycling came in at $199.63 while the average cost per ton on the refuse side was $58.04. For this category, then, recycling collection was on average 3.4 times more expensive than trash collection.