There is no shortage of information out there about the effect high oil prices are having on everything from driving habits to foods costs. You may have seen some of that information right on this here blog.

Undoubtedly, it is yet another demonstration of how much our economy turns on the cost of energy.

But this story in Reuters demonstrates just how extreme those effects can be and raises a few questions for the greater Pottstown area.

The story, if you don't have time to read the link, talks about the rising value of plastic buried in landfills.

Most plastic is made from petroleum in some form or another, so as the cost of oil goes up, so too does the value of products made from oil.

The story, which comes out of Britain, notes that prices for high quality plastics such as high-density polyethelenes (HDP) have more than doubled to between $370-560 per ton, from just a year ago.

So it's time to ask the question.

Having just about finished the final closure plan for the Pottstown Landfill, and having just signed a contract to treat its leachate, is it time to think about opening it up again to dig up the plastic?

This idea would probably has almost as many ups as downs.

On the down side, who knows what's buried there, particularly in some of the old sections that were filled long before regulators paid any attention to what was buried in the ground. Mining it could cause exposure to those hazards.

On the other hand, having a way to make a profit by digging it up could provide a financial incentive to the landfill owners, Waste Management, to investigate what's in there and ensure it is disposed of properly, all while looking for plastic in landfill sections that were filled long before recycling programs became prevalent.

Seeing as much of the leachate (the contaminated water that percolates through the landfill's trash) comes from the section of the landfill that has no cap, having something of value inside could make if affordable to dig it up and re-cap it using modern standards. Of course, that's a decision only Waste Management can make. Their landfill, their call.

Certainly, as two Berks County landfills explore ways to get energy out of their facilities by pumping and exporting cumbustible landfill gas, mining a landfill for plastics is yet another avenue by which we can recover energy from our buried waste.

But before we rush into anything hastily, we should consider the effect on the atmosphere of returning all that plastic to burnable fuel and whether the harm it's resulting greenhouse gases and toxins could cause to the environment doesn't outweigh the benefit of taking it out of the landfill.

Due to unfortunate budget cuts, the once-vast research department at The Thin Green Line is severely depleted and we cannot yet conduct that anaylsis, but the "harms/benefit analysis," as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection likes to call it, should be done nonetheless.

Of course, the best (and least expensive) way to capture the fossil fuel energy trapped in plastic is to not send the plastic to the landfill in the first place. Yes, I'm talking about recycling.

Jim Crater over at Recycling Services Inc. in North Coventry has become a master of matching recycled materials to markets that want them. But by its nature, his effort is limited in scale by how many people bring their recyclables to the center. (Count me among them).

(Equally masterful are his volunteer specialists whose sharp eyes and sharp wits allow recycling numbskulls such as myself to make sure the No. 6 plastic goes in the No. 6 bin.)

But a truly global market for used plastic offers an opportunity for truly large-scale recycling, particularly on a municipal level, because it would not be as hard to find buyers.

So perhaps its unexpectedly good timing that the Borough of Pottstown is embarking on an ambitious program to boost its recycling.

It's driven by simple municipal economics. It costs a lot to get rid of trash at a landfill, so the more trash you keep out of the landfill, the less it costs to collect the trash and the fewer people come to yell at you at borough council meetings.

Toward that end, borough council has voted to purchase new 65-gallon recycling bins to make recycling easier for residents, and to encourage less trash going to the landfill.

You'll be able to throw it all in, cans, plastic bottles, paper, junk mail. If you have any questions, a label right on the bin will tell you what can go in.

The borough intends to test the new bins in each of the borough's five wards and The Thin Green Line has offered, and the borough has agreed, to be one of the guinea pigs.

When the bins arrive, our staff of one will let you know how it works, how its working in my house, and perhaps help you avoid some of the unexpected pitfalls that often accompany any new venture.

In the meantime, start looking at those soda bottles as something other than just something to get rid of.