The reasons you've been inundated with that message since childhood are largely societal rather than economic, as the comment you're replying to alluded to. I could "source those claims", but I'm not going to write you a bibliography at 2:30 AM. You know how to use Google I'm sure. If you want to know, you'll use it. It's an interesting enough hole to go down once you start. Just don't stop once you've found one link that supports your preconceived notions, as you just did. There are 10 times as many that say the other thing, in more "scholarly" journals than "journal of cleaner production", an Elsevier pay-to-play rag. If you want to keep feeling the warm fuzzies that most people feel when they hear the word "recycling", then don't look into it. It's OK to decide to remain ignorant. I avoid watching videos from factory farms. I'd rather not see some parts of how the modern world works.