Why does recycled paper cost more than virgin?
If you and I were to sit down and seriously analyze that issue, I think we may come to the conclusion that recycled paper does not cost more. If we look at the environmental costs, costs to human health, costs to habitat of fellow species, and societal costs, I think we could honestly say recycled paper does not cost more. The cost to subsidize the timber industry through roadbuilding, tax abatements they receive, giveaway of our forests at below-market pricing, the cost to loss of fisheries due to sedimentation of streams because of clearcutting of forests, siltation of formerly-fertile and productive marine breeding grounds (salmon, shrimp, lobster, crabs, etc.), the cost of loss to farmers (for instance Rodolfo Montiel and Teodora Cabrerra in Chiapas region of Mexico — look up either name on an internet searchengine), and the loss of biodiversity due to replanting of monoculture species, (we can list many more “hidden costs”), we can undoubtedly show a story different than what we
