The Economics of Recycling | Floy Lilley

Presented by Floy Lilley at the "Economics for High School Students" seminar. Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama; 20 November 2009. Sponsored by Jeremy S. Davis.

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[kswiatlo]

I love the guy in third row at 22:25. I can understand nose picking but there is no need to eat it.

[kswiatlo]

@kswiatlo

I just realised it is a form of recycling

[mrpetermjohnston]

i wish bob murphy would keep his head down

[denisquick181]

search for jobs online careerstartnow(dot)info great paying positions

[maximum411]

@pseizure2000

And a lot of garbage does not end up in landfills. Google "Pacific garbage patch" if you care to know more about the topic you are talking about. Garbage in landfills leaches toxic chemicals like lead, mercury, and phtalates into the surrounding environment. Many of these chemicals are neurotoxic, carcinogenic, or cause hormonal disruption in humans and wildlife.

[maximum411]

@pseizure2000

And what exactly is so wrong about that argument?

Also, I'm not going to tell you where I'm going to college, but I can assure you that I am about the farthest thing from "narrow-minded. Why don't you tell me where you went to college, what you studied, and what you have done since then that makes you so qualified to speak on the value of recycling?

[pseizure2000]

@maximum411 ... Are you seriously trying to make the argument that because land is a finite amount of space, we would eventually use it all up. I mean, I know you're 18 but can your view of the world be so narrow minded? So in this super hypothetical world of yours 1 million years from now we use the power of recycling to never have to mine a virgin material ever agaiiiiiin. Dear god, please go to college or DO SOMETHING before continuing to make your comments on Youtube.

[maximum411]

@pseizure2000

Is there an infinite amount of land on Earth? No. Is there an infinite amount of resources? No. So, what happens when you continue to use up non-renewable resources, and then throw the waste away into a limited land supply? Eventually, the system will fail. It is not sustainable, it is filling the Earth with garbage, and it is using up limited resources.

[pseizure2000]

@maximum411 Did you miss the part where she talks about landfill space? There is no lack of room for landfills.

[cabarete2003]

Wasn't this lady in Return of the Jedi?

[maximum411]

@stnosh

A lot of what we throw out is not biodegradable: plastics, foams, and most synthetic materials either will never degrade or will take millennia to do so (which is effectively never). This stuff just keeps building up and will NOT compost.

[stnosh]

I'm not sure how much you actually know about recycling but we compost. Compost DECREASES in size as it decomposes. Even if we take nothing out of the pile, it eventually goes to almost nothing. The vast amount of our garbage is compostable material. More than half of landfill input is yard waste. All this will decompose. Our compost pile reduce in volume by half in about 3 months even if we never mix it. If we mix it, then it decomposes even faster. Landfill companies use bulldozers.