Title: 10 Ways Recycling Hurts the Environment - Listverse
Headings: 10 Ways Recycling Hurts the Environment
10 Ways Recycling Hurts the Environment
SEE ALSO: 10 Animals That Surprisingly Benefit From Climate Change

Content: 9
Air Pollution Is Still A Problem
The recycling process itself produces a lot of pollutants—from the exhaust billowing out of recycling trucks to energy used at recycling plants. In 2009 there were about 179,000 waste collection vehicles on the road—that’s both recycling and garbage collection. The exhaust from each one of those vehicles contains over three dozen airborne toxins. The thing is, you can’t separate garbage trucks from recycling trucks—there’s no lesser evil. They both run on fossil fuels, and they both produce exhaust. By adding more trucks to the fleet, no matter what their purpose, we’re increasing air pollution. And that’s not even considering the recycling facilities. One recycling plant in Washington state produces more toxic emissions than any other factory in the region. And the next three biggest polluters in the area? Yeah, they’re also recycling plants.