Is recycling a good thing?  Surprisingly, it is being criticized by both anti-environmentalists and some environmentalists, as uneconomic, lulling us into a false sense of security, and distracting us from the real work of reducing how much waste we produce in the first place.  This is a topic where it is particularly important to answer in detail the views of the side you do not agree with.

Overview of the recycling issue:

http://science.families.com/recycling-ges

http://www.itss.brockport.edu/~gsaxton/pad680/Economics%20of%20Recycling.pdf

Economic concerns about recycling:

"The Economic Realities of Recycling" http://www.polystyrene.org/environment/econ.html

Recycling Economics: http://www.dnr.mo.gov/alpd/swmp/pubs-reports/rececon.htm

New York City recycling:
economics: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/downloads/pdf/pmrnyc03.ch1.pdf
history: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/downloads/pdf/pmrnyc04.ch2.pdf

Environmental concerns about recycling:

http://www.a-spi.org/waste/waste3.htm

http://www.ecologycenter.org/iptf/recycling/ with many good links

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/232985_waste18.html

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?506

Against recycling:

http://www.williams.edu/HistSci/curriculum/101/garbage.html

http://www.aluminum.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=3745

http://www.popcenter.org/Library/PSQ/1993/Winter%201993%20Vol%206_No.%201.pdf

http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=4372

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