Recycling Woes

As prices for commodities (definition of commodity) plummet--the example in this article is tin, which has dropped from a high of $327/ton earlier this year to $5/ton--recycling centers are facing major financial problems. The basic idea: the more raw materials are worth, the greater the profit margin recycling businesses can achieve.

The sixth commenter to the article, david b, points out a possible solution that I, in theory, support. He argues there should be a price on consumer products to cover their disposal. In other words, the consumer would pay extra in the price of a product in order to cover the eventual disposal of that product. The greener the product--one that uses recycled materials, less and/or recyclable packaging, etc--the lower the price. This would allow the market to work by incentivizing greener products by making them cheaper.