Just bury your trash: What if everything we know about recycling is wrong?
This article challenges the conventional wisdom that recycling is always superior to landfilling. It argues that for many materials, the energy and resource costs of recycling outweigh the environmental impact of properly managed landfills.
Why it matters
It forces a re-evaluation of sustainability policies and consumer habits regarding waste management and material reuse.
Every child is taught that landfill is the worst place our trash can end up. It is the sad consequence of a failure to recycle: a mountain of waste leaking chemicals and smells, blighting the land forever.
What if that picture is wrong? What if landfill, properly done, is actually one of the cleanest, cheapest, and most environmentally sensible things we can do with our waste? It turns out that for much of what we throw away, the humble landfill beats the recycling bin.
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