As plastic consumption drastically increases over time, more and more plastic ends up in landfills. About ⅘ of these plastics ends up in landfills, while the other is usually recycled to be reused again. When it comes to the economic side, companies usually consider the cost of recycling the plastic compared to the cost of making new plastic, also called Virgin Plastic. According to “Plastic News”, the cost for making new plastic cost between 83 and 85 cents a pound, compared 58 to 66 cents a pound for recycled plastic. The cost of making Virgin Plastic is much more expensive than recycled plastic because it is made using polymers and petroleum; which is also used to make fossil fuel.

As the cost of fossil fuel increase, the price to make Virgin Plastic would also increase because of petroleum. However, when the cost of fossil fuel decreases, manufacturers would be making more Virgin Plastic instead of buying recycled plastic. Making Virgin Plastic cost natural resources such as fossil fuels, which would increase the price of fossil fuels because of the increase in demand. This also affects people who use gas to cook or people who buy gasoline for their automobiles because the cost of fossil fuel increase as more plastic are needed to be made. Recycling plastic is a huge economic benefit because a ton of plastic could help save about $200 and also reduce the amount of money companies would spend making new plastic. Companies should promote recycling since the cost of buying recycled plastic is cheaper than making new Virgin Plastic. One report in 2006 by the NAPCOR show an estimate of how much plastic was made and a report of $4.5 billion were spent on making plastic. Instead of spending so much money on making new Virgin Plastic, businesses could put more effort into promoting recycling so more money could be saved. One way to promote recycling could be through ads or companies giving money to the customers for bring back unwanted plastic.