Recycling, material recovery and thermal treatment should not be presented as mutually exclusive slogans. Their environmental relationship depends on the material, recovery quality, contamination, energy use and which pathway is genuinely displaced.
Diverting waste from landfill can avoid methane, long-term disposal, leachate management and loss of recoverable resources. The size of that benefit depends on what landfill was actually avoided and what system replaced it.
Open dumping and open burning are not merely unattractive forms of waste disposal. They can create connected air, water, soil, climate and public-health pathways, particularly where collection and controlled treatment systems are weak.
Waste can become a major source of pollution when it is poorly managed, burned, dumped, leaked or improperly treated. But waste and pollution are not synonyms, and confusing them obscures both problems.