"The Economic Feasibility of Recycling: A Case Study of Plastic Wastes" is the first book to provide a general overview of the major issues at the heart of the recycle/disposal question. Analyzing in nontechnical language the incentives for and barriers to recycling, this new work examines a broad range of topics, including: the various recycle processes, how the various disposal methods affect the environment, what role the public and private sectors play in the decision-making process.

This book presents the first comprehensive and unbiased assessment of the social and economic factors that drive decisions about waste-to-energy (WTE) projects in the United States. Information about each WTE project initiated between 1982 to 1990 is combined with detailed socioeconomic data at the county level to identify the social and economic differences between counties that have completed WTE facilities and counties that have abandoned their projects during the planning process. To examine the effects of political objectives, public attitudes, and the decision process itself, the...