But there's a catch. In some cases, it's money taken away from other municipal purposes that are at least as worthy. City officials don't believe that level is economically sustainable. Recycling can be an important part of such efforts. But enthusiasm for recycling has outrun its economic viability.
Curbside recycling is particularly inefficient, since it usually utilizes a fleet of special trucks.
Los Angeles, for example, has a fleet of forty trucks dedicated to collection of recyclables. Workers have to be paid to run the trucks and pick up the materials, and the trucks must be serviced. Costs mount quickly. The total cost of collection and recycling activities usually is only partially offset by the sale of recyclable material to someone who wants to use it to make new products. But recyclables are commodities, and commodity prices are subject to unpredictable swings.