Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
The fact that I have to pay someone to remove an "asset" fails the logic test.
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Logic is easy if you're willing to use it.
I'd pay for your "asset" if I were a processer who sold the finished product to manufacturers and you delivered it to me. But as a processer, I'm not going to pay you for a few cardboard boxes and plastic bottles every week. I need those raw materials by the truckload and in a predictable amount- like what your town can produce.
But if your town wants to actually turn their truckloads of garbage into an asset, they need to entirely duplicate their garbage collection infrastructure to have a different facility and a second fleet of trucks with all their attendant support. Without doing that and having a processer lined up who can in turn sell to manufacturers, all you've got in your bin is household trash that you need to pay to get rid of. All those steps aren't going to get paid for by the sale of used cardboard and tin cans, they're going to raise that money with a bond and everyone's going to pay that bond off with a few bucks a month. Without doing that and having a processer lined up who can in turn sell to manufacturers, all you've got in your bin is household trash that you need to pay to get rid of.
So is that really an added expense? No, the bond would have to be raised even without recycling because the town would need a new dump. Getting paid for the recycled material isn't a real income stream, but it does help defray some of the costs that you would have been incurring anyway in disposing of your waste.