ABSTRACT
In the late 1980s, municipal solid waste (MSW) issues became important concerns for policymakers and government officials at the local, state, and national levels. The volume of MSW generated in the United States was rising, many landfills were closing, and siting new landfills and incinerators was becoming increasingly difficult because of local opposition. This combination of factors, along with a surge of environmentalism in the general public, heightened public interest in recycling programs, particularly residential curbside recycling. Although these programs were a popular method of conserving landfill capacity, the greatly increased supply of recyclable materials led to collapses in the markets for many of those materials—particularly used newspapers, plastic bottles, and green glass. This situation led policymakers to look for solutions to this problem and alternative strategies for reducing the amount of solid waste going to landfills.
