Excellent points. I guess an addendum is in order. Recycling as a whole as BS is too harsh a criticism. However there's something still to be said. And it's mostly based on my living in a 3rd world nation.

What I mean to say is the reason why I think it's relevant for us to think twice about Recycling especially in our country is because I really think we'll end up doing more damage than good.

As the guy you lifted the rebuttal from said; it would depend on the infrastructure in place. You even recall me mentioning our country's situation in places like Smoky Mountain.

But here's the interesting thing: If we couldn't have the budget to support making a decent infrastructure for landfills (which should be cheaper in every aspect) - its not far off that our recycling infrastructure is similar to what P&T are saying.

Recycling by simple logic and if developed properly is surely something that holds a lot of promise. The same way solar power and alternative energy is. But we should never underestimate the cost and practicality involved in these endeavors. Not to mention how the government manages the funds they take from our taxes to engage in such endeavors (and again, living where we live, that suddenly becomes a highly suspect area)

And while not entirely related to the issue, I just have to mention this as well:

I'm aware how convenient it is to attack people who are "branded" in such a way, P&T are magicians/illusionists/hollywood people just as George Carlin is a comedian... but sometimes, you'd be surprised that it is possible to have any person, no matter who they are, to have a more sensible glimpse of reality than the rest of the world does.

I for one am not ashamed to respect Carlin's view of the world more than that of a Priest.

But I'm not arguing with the fact that anything you see in television can be carved to serve a specific and unbalanced purpose - perhaps P&T's show is full of shit as well, or maybe there's truth in them - it's up to us to be critical.

Which brings me to my addendum which, I guess, is just one nuance I forgot to add initially - which you pointed out: Plastic. By virtue of being a limited resource, it would be acceptable to spend the extra resources/cost to recycle it as well.

I still do think it's a waste to recycle paper though, and maybe that's where P&T's show makes a whole lot of sense. Seeing boxes and cartons and shopping bags made of recycled paper does not impress me at all.

The problem isn't that people believe in something thing that may or may not be true, but that they buy into them hook line and sinker without critical thinking.

You have to ask yourself why the entire world would spend trillions of dollars and billions of man hours doing something without fully thinking out the consequences.

While it may be applicable (and even correct) to assert this particular argument in this situation, I personally try not to use this type of mindset.

Correlation != truth. That's the same logic that justified Holy Wars in the name of Religion. It's the same logic one can use to assert that Windows is a superior OS than the other Unix derivatives - which we know is just plain bull. I know it can be a stretch to connect these ideas, but hey, it always starts somewhere.

To end this fucking long comment, I'll just say this:

What we probably really need is the Mythbusters to weight in on the issue ;)