A Wall Street Journal article (March 30, 2011) describes exports of recycled cardboard boxes from the US to China.  With the increased use of online shopping – US consumers have a growing number of such boxes, with 15 % of the waste stream.  At the same time, growing demand in China for such boxes to package goods exported back to the US, generated a 25 % increase in shipments from California ports.  The benefit of this increased demand is a price increase for recyclers and thus an incentive for more recycled material pickup.  Should the growing exports of recycled boxes be treated as “export growth”? The recycled boxes also serve to decrease the “cost” to ship from China to the US and thus subsidize imports to the US – is that appropriate ? Since demand for boxes is due to requirements for recycled content in US states – thus providing the demand stimulus in China, should the “global transport cost” be considered as a regulatory cost ?