I want to thank Scott Mouw, Chief of Community and Business Assistance at DENR for calling my attention to a study that DENR has put out regarding job creation from recycling. It was apparently stimulated by a piece in last Friday’s (Earth Day) Durham Herald where I was asked to submit 5 things that people can do to help the environment. The 5 included:

1. Don?t litter.
2. Respect your neighbor?s property rights. Harming the person or property of others is at the root of all environmental problems.
3. Recycle only what makes sense. The process of recycling, like all other production processes, uses resources and energy. Recycling can often use more than it saves.
4. No matter what size you choose, drive a newer car. Emissions are reduced by about 10 percent each year as old cars come off the road.
5. Before forming opinions about environmental issues learn some basic science and realize that there are at least two sides to every issue. Quite frequently, what everyone seems to know, just ain?t so.

[As an aside, I was the only person to suggest that people shouldn’t litter. I was also probably the only one who would not be considered a traditional environmentalist.]

I think it was number 3 that caught Mouw’s eye. I am particularly happy because the publication that he sent me and the study that it was derived from will now appear on the reading list for the class I teach at NC State–as example of really bad economic analysis. What needs to be realized is that the whole point of the study is to brag about the amount of labor resources that are being used up and diverted from other productive activities for recycling. This is only one of its many problems

Below is part of the abstract from this study. To get a sense of what is wrong with this whole thing I suggest that you substitute the word pyramid for recycling whenever it appears in the text.

“The objective of this study is to quantify the impacts of recycling on jobs in North Carolina. This was accomplished by collecting survey data on the current employment status in public and private sector recycling businesses and then comparing current data with information from 1994 and 2000 to determine the employment trends. Employment data from the recycling industry is also compared with other industries? employment over the same time period. Survey data indicates that recycling is a significant employer in North Carolina supporting approximately 14,000 employees, or 0.35% of North Carolina?s workforce. The private sector supports ten times the number of recycling employees as the public sector. In contrast to most other industries, recycling employment has increased over the last 10 years. While traditional industries such as textiles and manufacturing have lost significant numbers of jobs over the past decade, recycling has created jobs and increased its share of the labor market. North Carolina has approximately 1.2% of the nation?s recycling jobs. This study points to the economic importance of continuing and expanding recycling programs in North Carolina, which adds to the environmental benefits of recovering as much waste as possible. At the state and local levels, there is need for policies that encourage participation in recycling programs and discourage waste disposal.”

Silly me–I thought the point of recycling was to save resources. Oh, I guess labor isn’t a resource. The Soviet system generated full employment quite consistently.