The crime we fear to commit is discarding something. That root of "ethics" is one aspect.
The crime we should be more aware of is buying / consuming something.
Something we buy is produced either from recycled content, or earth-extracted content.
Meanwhile, an enormous amount of energy we consume is moving stuff across the globe. And the cost to recyclers is enormous. How does a recycler compete against the costs of shipping below (TransportDive)?
When recycling critics talk of the cost of transporting recyclables, they have to consider the costs of moving mined ores, refined secondary ores, and finished virgin raw materials around the same globe. Recycling's competitor is not really overseas recycling, but overseas extraction.
