Do you remember when we still could afford recycling?

Every day it seems that something new is being dragged the way of the dinosaurs due to the global recession. Corporate jets, The Rainbow Room, Polaroids, Arena Football, Circuit City, Linens n' Things, Sharper Image, Bear Stearns, WaMu, DHL (seriously, its no longer going to operate in the U.S.), RENT and Hairspray. The story is ever unfolding and seemingly never ending.

One you may not have heard of yet but probably will soon.

Recycling?

No, how could recycling ever go out of style in a society acting so pompously 'green'.

The simple answer is that recycling on a corporate level is not driven by the common good. Recycling exploded for years because a private entrepreneur could literally make millions by turning old cardboard into recycled cardboard. Today, that is no longer the case.

In a twisted turn of events, but something which should not come as a surprise, cardboard is not as valuable as it once ways.

Already, even before the global turn down, most recyclers had stopped accepting all non paper or cardboard products -- take plastic or glass for example. Everything else was just put in a landfill like regular old trash. The only reason cardboard and paper survived was that the profit margins were still decent on selling the recycled products.

Today, the story is sadder. Most recycling programs in small to mid size communities are facing a dark future as demand for the recycled byproducts dwindles.

As a result of the lowered demand, the private entrepreneurs are charging cities more and more for the recycled materials they accept for processing (basic supply side economics). Eventually, and this has already happened in many areas, it actually becomes more cost effective to dump the materials in a landfill than to pay these private contractors to take it.

Hence, many cities are dropping their recycling programs altogether, citing financial concerns.

Back to the dark ages it would seem..

At the current rate, our children will have to ask.. what is recycling?

Seriously.