This story of the time spent preparing items for recycling
is completely ridiculous. How much of this we should count in our day-by-day life?
The time spent dealing with annoying people, waiting for a bus, collect the foul of your dog from the street and reading useless newspaper articles.

Frank, London, UK

A full analysis should also include cost of driving to "recycling centres" with items that cannot be collected [here that includes glass for "health and safety reasons"] and water meter costs for washing things out. My recycling centre is a 10 mile round trip.

Deryk Mead, Colwall, England

There are a lot of things we do or have to do which does not involve timekeeping or money.

ian cheese, london, uk

This article makes the trivial mistake of forgetting the cost incurred when disposing of waste without recycling, so it doesn't make a meaningful comparison.

And who "sorts through" rubbish? We put the stuff in its bins as we go along, it doesn't take any longer than throwing it away.

Jamie G, Bolton, UK

By the same token, I suppose I should refuse to do the washing up, or the vacuuming, or any other household task, unless I get paid the minimum wage to do it.

Heaven forfend that we should ever just do our bit!

N Patrick, Cambridge,

What a load of rubbish, who threw away Tim's rubbish before he had to sort it? What Tim really needs to think about, if he is going to continue this hypothesis is what is the extra time required to think 'Is this a plastic glass or organic? If it takes him 45 mins he needs help...

J Purcell, London, UK

-"what value saving our one&only planet?"

Talk about spurious. If we don't recycle the planet is going to explode?? What are you smoking?

Stephen, London,

Please provide a source for your "best estimate" of 45 minutes.

Ruth, Reading, UK

You've missed the point-you value our time based on minimum wage considerations, which are spurious(what value saving our one&only planet?).The real calculations should be based on energy audits-how much glass, paper or plastic etc is needed to offset CO2 emissions when we drive to a recyling point?

simon, richmond, uk

'However, there is one cost that no one acknowledges: the time spent preparing items for recycling. No one mentions it because it's done by you, free, in your own home.'

Ah yes, another of the infamous "externalities". Added to the time spent taking out bins, which the dustmen used to collect.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

Tim Worstall makes a helpful attempt to cost in the notional effort required but perhaps carries this forward too literally. But what is our time worth waiting for three men not to dig a hole in the road? These are economic factor for which we should take some account.

Peter York, Tonbridge, Kent

Recycling of most ordinary waste is a scam. The only way it can generate money is if the public, who pay to have their rubbish removed, sort, wash and package the rubbish free of charge.

MCO, Tromso, Norway

The Greenies expect us give up increasing amounts of our leisure time, to make these pointless ritualistic gestures of penance to their God.

No wonder enviromentalism is so popular with the toffs - they can get their servants to do it!

Steve, London,

Ridiculous. There are many things we do at home that we don't charge for. Personally, I spend no more than, say, 5 minutes a week putting bottles etc into a container. And the "opportunity cost" of that activity is effectively zero, i.e. I'm not sacrificing any potential money-making time.

Martin Auster, Armidale,

Contrarian codswallop. The basic premise is absurd. Who claims that sorting out recycling takes 45 minutes a week? Example: I get junk mail. I throw it in the paper box instead of the general rubbish bin. Recycling it takes me no more time than it would to throw it in the bin and send it to landful

Stu, London,

The minimum wage is an artificially "floor" for the price of labour. It is not the true minimum market price of all labour (markets have no minimum price - only the lowest price people will accept). Is time which I would otherwise spend watching trash tv worth £5.35? Er, no.

David Timson, Belfast, UK