<P> Comparing the market cost of recyclable material with the cost of new raw materials ignores economic externalities--the costs that are currently not counted by the market . Creating a new piece of plastic, for instance, may cause more pollution and be less sustainable than recycling a similar piece of plastic, but these factors will not be counted in market cost . A life cycle assessment can be used to determine the levels of externalities and decide whether the recycling may be worthwhile despite unfavorable market costs . Alternatively, legal means (such as a carbon tax) can be used to bring externalities into the market, so that the market cost of the material becomes close to the true cost . </P> <P> The recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment in India and China generates a significant amount of pollution . Informal recycling in an underground economy of these countries has generated an environmental and health disaster . High levels of lead (Pb), polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated dioxins and furans, as well as polybrominated dioxins and furans (PCDD / Fs and PBDD / Fs), concentrated in the air, bottom ash, dust, soil, water, and sediments in areas surrounding recycling sites . </P> <P> Economist Steven Landsburg, author of a paper entitled "Why I Am Not an Environmentalist", claimed that paper recycling actually reduces tree populations . He argues that because paper companies have incentives to replenish their forests, large demands for paper lead to large forests while reduced demand for paper leads to fewer "farmed" forests . </P> <P> When foresting companies cut down trees, more are planted in their place; however, such "farmed" forests are inferior to virgin forests in several ways . Farmed forests are not able to fix the soil as quickly as virgin forests, causing widespread soil erosion and often requiring large amounts of fertilizer to maintain while containing little tree and wild - life biodiversity compared to virgin forests . Also, the new trees planted are not as big as the trees that were cut down, and the argument that there will be "more trees" is not compelling to forestry advocates when they are counting saplings . </P>

When is recycling a mineral a viable option