IS RECYCLING THE BEST METHOD FOR WASTE MANAGEMENT: An Analysis of the Environmental and Economic Impacts of Recycling (2009-2018)

Abstract

Waste management has become a priority issue recently as a result of China’s 2017 ban on contaminated plastics. Landfills are reaching peak capacity, and recycling has been the default method for waste management for decades. As local governments continue to invest resources into developing recycling programs, little research has investigated the environmental and economic benefits of recycling. This study attempts to evaluate the impact of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) on environmental factors (air quality, fuel consumption, and net generation) and economic factors (real GDP) in seven states: Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, and South Carolina. At a state level, recycling leads to better air quality but also increases fuel consumption and net generation. There is also a positive effect on real GDP. However, when using a fixed effects Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model using county-level data, we find that there is no effect or a small positive impact of recycling on environmental and economic factors, and increased access to recycling opportunities has a negative impact on GDP. These results are important for informing future waste management policy decisions to transition away from recycling to reduce and reuse processes.