Cost Benefit Analysis

Creating a mechanism for tracking cost benefits is an important tool for providing support for recycling and waste reduction efforts. Having hard data like this can keep programs alive as administrators like to see a hard benefit from campus recycling efforts. Additionally, proposed cost benefits can be a key point in validating the existence of recycling programs. Traditional cost benefits of recycling include cost avoidance and revenue. How much would it have cost to dispose of materials in the landfill? How much are tipping fees? How much per ton, does the University spend on managing garbage? How much money does the program make in revenue from marketing materials? Is the recycling program doing the hauling from the inside of buildings? If so, how much does the Recycling Program save in Custodial costs for handling materials?

Additionally, at the University of Oregon, savings from the reusable office supply exchange and surplus furniture exchange are included in these figures. Savings from department purchases of recycling equipment, donations to the program and other areas where departments financially assist in the recycling effort, all are included in the cost benefit analysis at the UO. There are many ways to do this. The thing to remember is to at least include something on cost avoidance and revenue. This is important information to document and have on hand for adminstrative challenges. This important documentation helps administrators see that there is a direct economic benefit to investing in a campus recycling effort, whether the amount is accepted as a true savings or not. Be aware that there are fixed costs in collecting garbage that exist whether you throw out 10 or 100 tons. Documenting savings from trash disposal labor is a tricky argument but nonetheless, cost avoidance from tipping fees is a hard fact.

Keep in mind that when you are comparing the waste handling to the recycling program that you must pay attention to what each budget funds. At the UO, the garbage crew strictly picks up the garbage from the dumpsters on the loading docks. The Recycling Program actually does a custodial function of hauling the waste from inside the building to a Program vehicle to transport it to the warehouse for processing. If the Recycling Program didn't exist, it would cost more to handle the material as waste (tipping fees, truck costs, labor for hauling to dump AND custodial costs for moving the material from inside the building). This can be a challenge to get administration to acknowledge it, but it is the facts. With the comparison to handling material as waste versus handling material as a resource (recycling/composting), all aspects of the process must be examined. Even without revenue, handling material as recycling/composting is at least equal or less expensive than traditional trash.

Here are some examples of how cost benefits are documented:

UO cost benefit numbers
UO cost benefit charts

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