Sustainable development must be economically sound as well as benefiting the environment and people.

Meeting sustainable targets can be expensive. If businesses become uncompetitive, they may lose jobs. If we want sustainable development, we may need to be willing to pay the price.

Recycling helps to reduce the need to use raw materials. However, it also costs to collect and sort the wastes. This means that economically it may not be sustainable.

The graph shows costs of recycling plastic packaging. It is economical to use packaging from industrial and commercial waste.

The cost of collection, and sorting the mixed waste, mean that it is too expensive to recycle from household rubbish.

It may be better to incinerate this waste and use it to generate electricity.

It is more expensive to use plastic packaging recycled from household waste than it is to make it from fresh raw materials.