Can potential adverse environmental impacts of combusting certain materials justify recycling?
Household hazardous waste programs can recover products such as mercury, elecronics, switches, paint and batteries that are primary sources of heavy metals. Yard trim and grass clippings generate high NOx emissions when burned, which would require the consumption of natural resources to remove. Preventing emissions that would have resulted from combusting them can justify diverting them from waste-to-energy plants. Communities must choose diversion methods carefully, however, since potential pollutants can also be released during the storage and processing of some recyclable materials. The comprehensive, integrated approach should be considered.
