[greenyes] PP & Biodiversity Enhancing Benefits of Curbside Recycling

[Sharon_Gates@no.address]

I prematurely deleted Jeffrey Morris's posting providing the link to this 
article, so I apologize for posting this question that should really be 
sent directly to Jeffrey.

The article amply documents the net environmental benefits of curbside 
recycling.  I'm a bit confused, though, by what are referred to in the 
text as reductions in acidification potential, eutrophication potential, 
and human toxicity potential on the waste management end of product life 
cycles.  The accompanying bar charts show less than zero for waste 
management for all of these.  Isn't a less than zero reduction actually an 
increase?  Or am I missing something?  While it's clear that the net 
impact (waste management + extraction/mining) is reduction, there appears 
to be a contradiction between the text and the charts for just the waste 
management part. 

Sharon Gates
Recycling Specialist
City of Long Beach, California
562/570-4694