name at least two benefits of recycling more of our wastes
Recycling Fiscal efficiency is separate from economic efficiency. Economic analysis of recycling does not include what economists call externalities, which are unpriced costs and benefits that accrue to individuals outside of private transactions. Examples include: decreased air pollution and greenhouse gases from incineration, reduced hazardous waste leaching from landfills, reduced energy consumption, and reduced waste and resource consumption, which leads to a reduction in environmentally damaging mining and timber activity. About 4,000 minerals are known, of these only a few hundred minerals in the world are relatively common.[69] Known reserves of phosphorus will be exhausted within the next 100 years at current rates of usage.[70][71] Without mechanisms such as taxes or subsidies to internalize externalities, businesses may ignore them despite the costs imposed on society.[citation needed] To make such nonfiscal benefits economically relevant, advocates have pushed for legislative action to increase the demand for recycled materials.[2] The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded in favor of recycling, saying that recycling efforts reduced the country's carbon emissions by a net 49 million metric tonnes in 2005.[6] In the United Kingdom, the Waste and Resources Action Programme stated that Great Britain's recycling efforts reduce CO2 emissions by 10â€“15 million tonnes a year.[6] Recycling is more efficient in densely populated areas, as there are economies of scale involved.[2]