Manufacturers should be encouraged to increase usage of recycled products. However, the cost of recycling the materials is a deciding factor. Collecting recyclable items, sorting, cleaning, and other steps are included in the cost of post-consumer materials recovery. Some recycling efforts are also energy intensive. Most recycling projects are labor intensive.
Recycling sometimes requires chemicals to clean and reprocess materials for use.
Every recyclable material has some problems. The overriding issue, however, is demand for recycled materials. Recycling as an industry is demand driven. Only those materials in high demand are economical to recycle. Consumer Perception One way to increase demand for recycled materials is to educate consumers.