This moral fervor comes at a price. But then, it has long been known that most trash isn't worth reusing, recycling programs usually lose money, and landfills offer a safe disposal method. His points were many. For instance, packaging saves resources, reducing food spoilage. The cheapest way to dispose of garbage is in a landfill.
Modern dumps incorporate a range of safeguards and take up a minuscule amount of space.
A. Clark Wiseman of Spokane's Gonzaga University figures that, at the current rate, Americans could put all of the trash generated over the next 1,000 years into a landfill 100 yards high and 35 miles square. Or dig a similar-size hole and plant grass on top after it was filled. Recycling, in contrast, costs money. Yet there is no environmental reason to recycle trash. Resources are not scarce.