People get into this really nasty habit of thinking law exists in a vacuum free from the existence of human nature. This is sounding a lot like a gun control argument.<p>Instead, think of this from a goal based perspective. Your goal is to reduce stuff getting thrown in the trash.<p>Therefore,  you want to encourage recycling.<p>Making recycling expensive harms your goal. You want to encourage people to recycle, not discourage. Don&#x27;t do it, then.<p>Trying to force people to recycle doesn&#x27;t work. It&#x27;s economically infeasible to track down who threw that oil can in the curbside bin. Negative reinforcement being off the table, use positive reinforcement.