Background and purpose: Nowadays, in developed countries, the economic profits of recycling and its role in waste reduction and disposal costs is well recognized. In this study, the economic aspects of dry solid waste recycling were evaluated in Shiraz, Iran.

Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Shiraz in which data was collected through field observations, interviews with officials of municipal utilities and investigating the documents in the organization. Then, the economic benefits of different recycling rates including 15% (current), 50% and 80% were evaluated.

Results: The recycling rate of  waste paper, cardboard, glass, nylon and plastic carrier bags, disposable plastic containers, PET, other types of plastic, disposable metallic containers, and other types of metals were 23%, 12%, 8%, 2.5%, 8%, 13%, 13%, 11%, and 12%, respectively. The total economic benefits of recycling in terms of current recycling (15%), desirable recycling (50%) and ideal recycling (80%) rates were calculated as 11527, 39869, and 63791 million Rials per year, respectively.

Conclusion: Only 15% of dry solid waste is recycled in Shiraz. The economic benefits from recycling could increase to 8-18 times of the current benefit with a 10 to 20 year proper planning and upgrading the current recycling program.