[Pukka Puck]

"IP recycles paper, and makes money producing products made with recycled paper."

And the rest of us subsidize the cost of the waste paper provided to IP, just so they can make a profit.

Net the entire process, it cost more money and is harder on the environment to recycle paper than to make it from scratch.

[supercat]

Net the entire process, it cost more money and is harder on the environment to recycle paper than to make it from scratch.

In most cases, true. But in cases where paper may be handled in bulk [e.g. palettes of undistributed phone books, etc.] there's no reason not to.

If it takes one man hour to handle 20 tons of paper for recycling, it can be well worth it. If it takes 20 man hours to handle 1 ton, it's probably not worth it.

[fogarty]

IP does not get subsidized paper deliveries from the government. My uncle said they have private contracts with office supply stores and other businesses which provide the majority of their high-grade recycled products.

The main point is: recycling CAN work in the private sector. There are certainly materials which are amenable to do so. The thesis that all recycling is an utter waste is flat-out wrong.