Doesn’t recycling cost more than it saves?
The real benefits of recycling include more efficient use of natural resources, more effective and longer life of landfills, reduction of air and water pollution, and less environmental degradation. Although the City gets revenue from the sale of recyclable materials on the open market, this revenue does not fully recover the operating costs of the recycling programs. This may change in the future if demand for recycled-content materials grows. When you have the option, we encourage you to purchase products and packaging made with recycled material. The overall reduction of Sunnyvale’s solid waste stream through recycling, waste reduction, and reuse of materials has reduced by half the volume of material that would have otherwise been disposed at the Kirby Canyon Landfill. Thus, the potential costs of disposal have also been cut in half, reflecting a savings of approximately $5 million per year. Further, achieving the state mandate to cut our waste in half means we are not subject to t
