The Effects of Environmental Taxes on the Development of Recycling Technologies

Abstract

The industrial revolution, which is considered to be one of the most important periods of development in human history, can also be regarded as a technological revolution, but the industrial revolution has brought with an excessive production and consumption concept without any restriction until the 2000s. The countries, which started with the industrial revolution and tried to maintain the production and consumption carried out with an almost limitless resource consumption, saw that this situation was unsustainable in the 1980s and started to seek remedies. One of the most important of these remedies is the development of technologies that provide recycling of wastes resulting from current consumption. The other is the development of technologies that convert non-renewable natural resources from renewable natural resources. In addition, renewable natural resources can be achieved by creating a new technology that will enable the maximum utilization of the resources available until the time of self-renewal. In contrast to T. Malthus’s population growth theory, classical economists, human beings have been able to overcome the needs of the growing population due to information and technological development. In the following process, economic growth and social prosperity can be envisaged by developing technologies that enable recycling of wastes resulting from consumption of scarce natural resources.