Waste generation is the amount of waste a person can create, including recyclable materials, compostable materials, and reusable items. For the personal waste generation, measurement and assessment the amount of recyclable material, such as plastics, glass and paper were measured for one week. The amount of reusable items, such as clothing, appliances, books, magazines, CDs and DVDs were measured and counted. The amount of compostable items, such as food waste, yard waste, string, and dirty paper were also calculated. Through these calculations and measurements an average was reached for the waste generation of a household.
There are four people living in my household. There are two adult females, one adult male, and one male child. Throughout the week of measuring the waste generated in my household I was able to calculate the amount each person creates. The average for the week that was measured was a total of 98 gallons of waste that was generated.
The estimated waste generated that was not recyclable or compostable was 13 gallons. This was calculated by monitoring the amount of raw food waste and soiled materials that must be deposited into a landfill. My household generated one kitchen size garbage bag full of waste. The estimated waste that was recyclable materials was 65 gallons. This amount was calculated by monitoring the amount of plastics, paper, and metal that was created within my household. This measurement is the equivalent of three kitchen size garbage bags. The estimated compostable items were 46 gallons. This amount was calculated by monitoring the amount of fruit and vegetable products that could be fed to the sheep on our property and the amount of plants and yard waste that was also fed to the sheep.
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...llon Bag)
(1 kitchen bag of vegetable and fruit scraps fed to sheep)
1 (33 Gallon Bag)
(1 black trash bag of landscaping materials such as cut weeds, bushes, and dying plants fed to sheep)
Estimated Reusable Items
(Gallons) N/A
Personal Waste Measurement of Each Member in Household
Adult Male Adult Female Adult Female Male Child
Total Trash Bags
Thrown Away
Total in Gallons Average of 2 (13 Gallon Bags)
24.5 Average of 2 (13 Gallon Bags)
24.5 Average of 2 (13 Gallon Bags)
24.5 Average of 2 (13 Gallon Bags)
24.5
Estimated Waste
(Gallons) 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25
Estimated Recyclable Materials
(Gallons) 9.75 9.75 9.75 9.75
Estimated Compostable Items
(Gallons) 11.5 11.5 11.5 11.5
Estimated Reusable Items
(Gallons) N/A N/A N/A N/A
Works Cited
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/waste-generation.html
In conclusion to this investigation one thing is clear and that is that recycling reeks benefits to the environment, Recycling material when compared to making material from raw material is a more efficient energy saving and more environmentally friendly way to reuse material that is usually consider as trash such as empty glass, and plastic bottles, or old newspapers. Recycling helps reduce the possible carbon emissions greatly and does reduce the human carbon footprint. But Recycling doesn’t resolve the pollution that is around the world today. Leading to new questions, questions like what about the landfills are they sustainable, and if so for how long. How long until the air becomes unbreathable? How long until Earth becomes its own furnace?
Andrew Hazen is the official recycling technician at Keurig’s roasting facility in Washington. He is on a mission to see how much of the trash at this location can be given a second chance. The general trash he is referring to is wood, paper, scrap metal, cardboard, paper filters, shrink wrap, and plastic banding. Hazen is proven to satisfy these efforts in a recent change at their facility. The coffee beans transported to the Washington roasting facility are always transported in bags made of 100% burlap because the material protects the beans while still allowing air to circulate. Hazen wondered what could be done with the thousands of burlap bags that come through their doors each month, rather than tossing them out. After some research, he found that farms use this material for sheet mulching and erosion control. In addition, a nearby wetland restoration project said they could use the bags to stop the growth of invasive species. Although Hazen was proud to help the farms and wetland restoration project, he still had several bags he could donate to help others. He was most proud when he learned the bags can be used to help the damages from Seattle’s rainy weather. A local landscaping firm called Rain Dog Designs now uses these recycled burlap bags to create rain gardens that absorb water runoff from paved areas. The burlap bag example is just one of many that Keurig Green Mountain facilities do to help reduce, reuse, and recycle as much as possible for a better world. (Our Stories,
The passage written by Bill McKibben, entitled “Waste Not, Want Not” was written to bring to the forefront the huge amount of waste that a small community of only 500 people accumulate in a small amount of time. He educated the reader by showing in detail the amounts of waste that is created on a daily basis. The wasteful effects on the environment are then discussed in greater detail, that many people do not stop to think about. Last, the focus on how waste affects the economy and the personal time that is lost because of the massive amount of waste that we accept in our daily lives.
Florida International University recognizes its contribution to the accumulation of waste considering that it produces about seven million pounds of waste each year (Figueroa, 2010). Unlike other universities that still remain adamant in investing on green practices, FIU has, “governed by the State of Florida under Florida Statute 403.714 and The Florida Solid Waste Management Act of 1988” (FIU, 2011), established its own internal ‘green machine’ or solid waste and environmental protection system via the FIU Custodial Services Office. The university’s efforts in ensuring efficient solid waste management even “far exceeds the minimum standards” (FIU, 2011) required by law. What makes the solid waste management efforts of the university one-of-a kind is the establishment of a “single stream recycling program which means that all recyclable items can be placed into one bin and do not have to be sorted” (FIU, 2011). Nevertheless, despite the use of single recycle bins, proper labeling has to accompany each bin to ensure that only materials that are recyclable are placed in the bins. There are also different sized of bins which are placed stra...
The country’s average for carbon footprint is 91.43 global acres. My personal carbon footprint is 42.71 global acres. The country’s average carbon footprint is nearly double of mine. My carbon footprint is smaller than I expected. The country’s average for food footprint is 65.74 global acres. My personal food footprint is 52.59 global acres. I have a garden, as well as compost, which may have contributed to my lower number. The country’s average for housing footprint is 31.58 global acres. My personal housing footprint is 28.18 global acres. I live with three other people, which contrib...
In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that Americans generated 250 million tons of municipal solid waste, MSW1, of which only 87 million tons were recycled or composted (“Municipal Solid Waste”, 1). This value, however, does not represent the total amount waste generated by the United States since MSW only accounts for 2 percent of total waste generated. As more trash is generated, space to construct more landfills becomes an issue. In order to reduce the amount of solid waste produced, the federal government must implement and enforce a new waste disposal method that emphasizes composting food waste.
Step 8 Repeat step 4, 5, 6 and 7 for another four days. P3 Results A table to show waste collected over a period of time at different locations. Days Location 1 rubbish weight (grams) Location 2 rubbish weight (grams) 1 403 28 2 250
Food waste is huge issue these days. It is a huge amount of waste that ends up in landfills and can have lasting effects on the environment. One of major issues of food waste is the greenhouse gases that it produces. Methane gas is the main culprit when it comes to the gases being released. This can absorb infrared radiation and heat up the earth’s atmosphere and cause climate change. Another issue that food waste causes is, water loss due to use for production of fruits and vegetables.
America and Europe are at the top of the list for most waste generated according to Waste (4). This is very visible because there’s litter on every street in the towns and cities, as well in lakes, beaches, and rivers. The book Waste by Rob Bowden states that the amount of waste produced is increasing at a rate faster than population growth. About 1.5 million computers, in the U.K, are thrown away each year and most end up in landfills. There are 3 types of waste which are Municipal Solid Waste, Industrial Waste, and Hazardous waste. MSW includes waste from public garbage cans and local dumpsters. Industrial Waste includes massive amounts of waste water that is contaminated with chemicals. Hazardous waste is the most dangerous as it presents a danger to human health and the environment. Solutions for waste disposal take time because people need to consider their lifestyle and limit the amount of waste they generate. A good start is to recycle items such as paper, cans, plastic, and clothes. This way they don’t end up in landfills, beaches, or streets. Another solution is to join organizations that go around places to recycle, or organizations that demand the reduction in the amount of products that are being
Further, “In 2008, nearly 13 tonnes of waste were generated by Canadian households. Of this, more than 8.5 million tonnes were disposed of in landfills or incine...
As humanity develops new technology, the magnitude and severity of waste increases. When computers were developed, it widely was believed that the need for paper would be eliminated. On the contrary this was widely proven false and we are now utilizing more paper than ever. Canada is not an exception as the typical Canadian generates an average of three pounds of solid waste each day1. This alone shows what a careless species we have become- using and disposing materials without even considering the damage we are causing. With half a trillion tones of waste around the world, only 25% may be reused for a second or third time and less than 5% can be renewed limitlessly1. These facts are true only in developed countries. Since these traditional waste reduction methods have been proven inefficient, we must endorse new innovative technology to arrive at a solution.
The United States produces “about 8.25 billion tons of solid wastes each year” (Russell 1). People do not realize the impact they have on our planet and environment. When people throw anything in the trashcan, they are contributing to the destruction of our planet. The number landfills in the United States are decreasing, but the amount and volume of waste being thrown into the new landfills is increasing (Russell 4). Because of this escalating amount of garbage, Methane which contributes to global warming is an outcome of these landfills (Russell 7). As a result, our planet is suffering because of this epidemic. The garbage being put in the landfills could be recycled, but not enough businesses, ...
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (2008), an American produces 250 million tons of garbage per year (para.2). There are different circumstances that are based on the society, environmental conditions, occupation and size of each of the different families. As Richmond (2010) stated, if no administration organizations has the responsibility or resources to concentrate their efforts on the waste disposal, then the responsibility to do that is on the nongovernmental organizations and ordinary people (para.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The solid wastes are produce not only by households; it’s contributed by hospitals and corporations. Hospitals throw away bandages, use needles and latex gloves, these items hospitals throw away daily all the time because they can’t be reuse for the safety of its patients. Corporations throw away a lot of waste as well such as papers that they use whether in writing or in projects. All of these leftovers after consumptions are waste that is produced by our daily actions.
Environmental health has been a very important issue to talk about internationally these days. We, human beings are leading the earth toward its edge unconsciously. We are using natural resource more than we give to the Mother Nature. Day by Day, people are aware of what damage they do the environment, but they do not care of fixing this damage. In a very simple step, the road of a better healthy environment will begin; recycling is the best idea that illustrate the previous point. To Andrew Roper, recycling is the conversion of waste products into new materials, such as waste paper that can be converts into new paper goods (n.d). There are many types of recycling, for example, there are glass, paper, metal, plastics, textiles and electronics recycling (Evans , 2011). This research will focus on recycling papers in the United Arab Emirates, the benefits or recycling and its effect on the environment, the difficulties of recycling, the process of recycling paper, and the finals products of recycling.