As more governments debate recycling laws, the chance for these laws working at cross-purposes with other statutes increases dramatically. Even as one law, for instance, mandates the use of recycled material in some product, another forbids used content in some other good. And even as one agency enacts rules to artificially create a market for recycled goods, another enacts rules that tend to stamp out such markets. Government rule books are full of laws that give virgin materials an advantage over recycled ones, claims Alexander Volokh, an assistant policy analyst at the libertarian Reason Foundation. He cites Food and Drug Administration rules on food packaging as an example.
Recycled materials have a harder time meeting a strict standard of purity than virgin materials.
The FDA doesn't ban recycled content. But Volokh charges that the FDA's review process is too lengthy and the standards it uses to judge recycled goods are too strict. The important question for consumers isn't how 'pure' the packaging is, but whether any impurities affect the quality or safety of the food. Hazardous waste is another area where government policies discourage recycling. The U.S. generates over 13 million tons of hazardous waste each year.