A medium-sized city (population 250 000, 45 000 families) is considering introducing a recycling program. The program would require them to separate newspaper, cardboard, and cans from their regular waste so that it could be collected weekly, sorted, and sold, rather than being put into the local landfill site.
The program would also require households to separate "wet," or compostable, waste, which they would then be responsible for composting. The city would provide free composting units to the households. What kinds of potential costs and benefits can you identify for this project? How might this information be gathered?