The cost necessary for safe and proper long-term maintenance has not been budgeted or allocated to many of the landfills that are closing. The cost will be far greater than communities have assumed. In fact, when hidden factors are considered, such as avoided costs and the subsidies given to landfilling and burning, recycling often turns out to be the least expensive option. But the greatest reason why landfills and incinerators are a problem is that they trash resources. Printing and writing paper dumped into a landfill could have been recycled up to a dozen more times, saving trees, water and energy and reducing pollution each time.
Incinerators are even more wasteful than landfills, even though many are touted as energy-producers.
They generally require a dedicated trash source, such as the lion's share of a municipality's garbage, for prime operation, discouraging source reduction and recycling. Yet in many cases, particularly paper, incinerators use more energy to burn the materials than they give back. The bad news is that, despite improved recycling rates, the actual tonnage disposed in landfills is still increasing because of increased consumption rates. Of the total amount of materials recovered from MSW, the paper industry led by recycling more than half, nearly 29 million tons. Conserving primary resources such as trees is not the only resource opportunity lost to landfills and incinerators.