In these rough economic times our country faces, certain unnecessary, wasteful spending should be stopped and cut from the budget. What if there was an industry that most Americans bought into, but it actually costs the American people about $8 billion a year? Something that is taught to us in our schools from the youngest ages. Something that The New York Times once said “may be the most wasteful activity in modern America. Waste of time and money, a waste of human and natural resources.” You may be thinking, why is this business actually accepted by us all, and paid for with our tax dollars — and what is it? This evil demon of wasteful spending and time is of course, recycling.

This all started when I was given a stern talking-to by a concerned student when disposing of a copy of this very newspaper. I was enlightened that recycling not only saves trees and paper but it also saves money, and it is a good thing to do.

There are several glaring inconsistencies with the statement that need to be pointed out so these lies cannot perpetuate any longer. The first is the deal with the money. If recycling paper actually saves money, why don’t we get paid for it? I understand we do get compensated for aluminum, but that is because aluminum is actually worth something — paper is not. If that wasn’t enough of a waste, it actually costs the government more to recycle than to just landfill the trash. Even the Environmental Protection Agency will agree it actually costs more to recycle garbage than to put it into a landfill. In order for the government to cover its losses from recycling, it of course takes money from us, the taxpayer.

But wouldn’t it be worth the money to recycle if we saved the environment? Does recycling actually save any trees? No. The trees used to make paper are actually grown on tree farms specifically for the use of paper. Therefore, whatever the paper companies take in trees, they replant. One conclusion that can be drawn is that not recycling actually puts fewer trees in the ground. While that may be a bit crazy to say, it is just as crazy to say that recycling actually does save trees, because it does not. The real benefit from recycling paper is to save the country from those nasty, evil landfills.

Actually, landfills are not that evil or bad after all. The argument against landfills is that they are smelly, expensive and dangerous. A landfill is essentially a hole in the ground with a giant rubber diaper on the bottom with some trash put on top. The rubber diaper is nearly impenetrable and safe to the environment around the landfill. To find out the best aspect of a landfill, you have to take a close look at the biggest one in America, the Puente Hills Landfill in Puente Hills, Calif. According to the landfill’s Web site, through the biogases alone at the landfill, the facility is able to generate 58 megawatts of energy, enough to power 80,000 homes in Southern California. Puente Hills Landfill also treats about 320 million gallons of water a day, saving Los Angeles County $15 million a year. What a horrible institution, and the worst part about it — there are several of these across our nation. The recycling nutjobs actually want fewer of these safe, beneficial and cost-effective landfills. I guess the only downside to them is that when landfills are full, they can be covered up and have golf courses and city parks put on top of them. What a disgusting industry.

We have all been hoodwinked about recycling. I’m not saying that it is bad. If you want to recycle, by all means, do it. Just don’t get self-righteous and judge those who don’t. Americans should realize that the environmentalists are not being honest with us. If these people are willing to lie to us about recycling, who knows what else could be just a bunch of crap — maybe things like ethanol or perhaps even the cornerstone of the whole movement, global warming.

— Justan Spaid is a sophomore in history from McCallsburg.