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Colby Cosh: British Columbia's trash-recycling paradox

The province has established a whole command-and-control system for recycling, and it is starting to fray

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On Monday morning CBC News published an interesting story about some local trouble spots that are emerging in British Columbia’s highly advanced, if not world-leading, system for trash recycling. Recycling makes a fun target for conservatives who occasionally want to bash a few hippies, and for a pretty good reason: the value of a recycling effort is only ever as good as the accounting behind it is complete. There are some things it makes sense to throw out after one or a few uses, and some things it makes obvious sense to recycle, and there is no such thing as a per se right to pollute. But there are always environmental costs to reclaiming recycled goods, and these could swallow up the gains and then some if they’re not factored in.

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B.C. has established a whole command-and-control system for trash recycling, a system that requires buy-in from the general public........

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