In today's society, people have become very wasteful. Many Americans have never lived or been exposed to an environment where resources were not plentiful, so there is a lack of appreciation for the resources that are easily accessible. The United States of America generates hundreds of million tons of solid waste per year. The commonly known term for solid waste is trash or garbage. Solid waste has become a major problem- it is a potential threat to public health, it scars the environment, and it can be a block to the economic development of an area because of the negative image it presents (Cardinali, 2001).
It is important that solid waste be disposed of properly or it could potentially become a hazard to the health of the environment. Disposal of solid waste on land is by far the most common approach in the USA, and accounts for about 90 percent of the nation's municipal waste. Incineration accounts for most of the remainder composting of solid waste. The choice of disposal methods is typically made on the cost to maintain the disposal site. Landfills are currently the cheapest way to dispose of the trash and garbage. In a modern landfill, the garbage is spread in thin layers, each of which is compacted by a bulldozer before the next is spread. When about ten feet of waste has been laid down, it is covered by a thin layer of earth or soil, which is also compacted. In essence the garbage is being packed and pressed down into the ground. It is very important that when choosing a site for a landfill that the location is not easily subjected to flooding. Flooding of a landfill can spread hazardous bacteria through the water and into other areas. This could cause contamination to crops and the grasslands were the cattle eat. It could also cause contamination to the waters where the fish live causing them to die. If bacteria is in the foods that we eat it could cause disease and health risks to the people who eat the contaminated foods (Cardinali, 2001).
Trash also gives off a negative image because it produces a foul odor and is not appealing to the eye. It can cause an economic barrier to the development of certain areas because people attract to places that have clean, fresh air and where the environment appears to be in good shape.
Humankind produces and consumes with little regard for waste. Susan Strasser’s Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash focuses on consumption’s byproduct; trash and what humankind has done to dispose of their waste over the past decades. Strasser catalogues an often deemed unsophisticated part of our modern society as being “central to our lives yet generally silenced or ignore” (p.36), throughout her book elucidating on the premise that one’s own view and opinion of what is deemed as trash varies greatly from person to person. Strasser explicates to the reader the rise of mass markets across the world and the impacts that production and consumption have on the creation of trash. Strasser begins to follow the story of trash in the pre-colonial
The book I choose for my book report was “Garbology” a book written by Edwards Humes. I found this book a very interesting book and was quite influential. The book “garbology” focuses on many concerns that are still relevant in society today. Each of these issues circles around the fact that the people in the United States produce way to much garbage. Americans produce more trash than anyone else on the planet throwing away 7.1 pounds per person per day, meaning on average each American is on track to generate 102 tons of trash a year. Many wonder if each American can accumulate this much trash in his/her lifetime will this become a problem. The answer is yes; this is currently a problem, has been a problem in the past and will continue to
Harmful emissions from the landfills escape into the air we breathe. The soil and water are also contaminated from our
Landfill is the most frequent waste disposal method all around the world. The present of landfill is recognised as being an important in this days as well as future, especially in low and middle income countries since it is the easiest way to build. Generally, there is two types of landfill can be classified, dry-tomb and bioreactor.
Landfills in America have taken many square miles of what used to be fertile land, forests and communities and that trend does not seem to have an end. The waste, we as Americans, dispose of each year is in the tons and that number rises annually. One of the reasons why this occurs is actually quite simple; population. Population in modern day America has soared to well above three hundred million, in 1915 that number was hundred million. Urbanization and industry has given way to deforestation and landfill creation. The need for more landfills has caused many health concerns, issues, and problems to not only those living near and
To begin with, in the U.S., trash is most commonly sent to a landfill, unfortunately though, once it arrives there little sorting occurs. According to the EPA, “Nationally, food is the single most common material sent to landfills. When excess food, leftover food, and food scraps are disposed of in a landfill, they decompose and become a significant source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas” (“Cupertino Honored”). At a landfill, trash arriving is only screened for liquids in order to avoid the creation of leachate, or water that is contaminated from dissolved chemicals in garbage. Once screened, dumped, and covered, bacteria begin to decompose the trash and, as a result, release methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The fact is that landfills are ideally supposed to be used to bury garbage that is non-decomposable, however, with the garbage collection method that is currently in place across many states, all unsorted garbage is being sent there. In addition, “...traditional trash disposal not only wastes material that can enrich soil but accelerates climate change. Organic matter decom...
Producing exceeding amounts of trash does not bother the majority of Americans, or they are unaware of the problem, otherwise the mind-blowing statistics would not exist. A major reason people produce large quantities of trash is out of pure laziness. For example, my roommate threw out a toaster because she had received a new one, and after she was questioned why she did not donate the toaster, her response was, “That is too much work.” Donating this toaster would have required her to exert extra effort and time that she was not willing to use. Often times, it is the same dilemma for recycling which sometimes requires a person to drive and personally place the recyclable products in the bins. People are not willing to utilize a minute amount of effort in order to help conserve the earth. However, much of this could be due to the fact that people do not realize how big of a problem trash production is.
...n. Many American shares a common image of not living in a finite world and are used to exponential growth in almost all aspects of that a developed country would attempt to obtain positively. Though when comparing the United States to other countries around the world with the amount of garbage produced annually, we top the scales around two hundred and thirty-six million tons. Even japan, ranked third and half the size of America, has less then fifty-five million tons of garbage annually. (Forbes) As we continue to diminish our sources at alarming rate, people often forget the treatment and infrastructure required to manage all our garbage. The sad but inevitable process of wiping out forests and preserved land for more space for urban living hugely hurts not only American population but foreign companies who wish to do future international business in our country.
Everybody throws away trash with little or no thought about where it’s going. What you might not know is that a lot of trash goes into our ocean. You may think it is not a big deal and that it’s just a little bit of trash in a really big ocean, but it’s not just a little bit of trash. In fact, it’s a whole lot. There is a place between California and Hawaii called the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, but is better known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. This area is the largest landfill in the world and is completely in the ocean. What are the effects of the landfill on the environment and how can it be prevented and rehabilitated to its original state?
Hazardous waste and its proper disposal have become a major sociological problem today due to its capability of contaminating the area in which we live and its potential to be lethal to all living things. In order for the United States and the rest of the world to save itself from a potentially life threatening problem they must fix the causes which lead to the improper disposal of hazardous wastes and like materials. Some reasons that hazardous waste has become a problem in the United States today is due to the breakdown in enforcing laws for the proper disposal of such wastes, a lack of initiative on big companies behalf to spend money on proper disposal, and the ease of disposing of such wastes illegally.
...or lakes (Weber 2). When people just dump waste products instead of recycling, it is a misuse of the soil and can contribute to serious health conditions in animals, plants and humans.
Policy is needed to regulate which course of action should be taken and how it should be implemented. Because of this, many plans and policies revolving around the management of solid waste have been put in place. Sometimes however, a particular policy can have its shortfalls, potentially resulting in its negative aspects outweighing the positive ones. According to the Conference Board of Canada Report, “Canadians dispose of more municipal solid waste per capita than any other country” (2013). Solid waste management in particular, involves many aspects, ranging from packaging waste, food waste, etc. (White & Franke 1999), hence, the following analysis revolves around household and commercial waste – referred to as Municipal Solid Waste (White & Franke. 1999) – in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Municipal waste is a major health and environmental concern as it contributes to numerous problems like habitat destruction, surface groundwater pollution, and other forms of air, soil, and water contamination. Waste disposal methods like incineration create toxic substances, and landfills emit methane, which contributes to global warming. According to the Zero Waste Objective Report, “The impact of climate change and the increasing awareness of the role of “waste” and “wasting” in the production of greenhouse gas emissions is a constant environmental pressure… (2009). This leads to an increasing limitation of government to prevent and control the volume and toxicity of products in the waste stream and a growing need to shift responsibility to the product manufacturer.
Traditional methods of waste disposal have proven to be ineffective and have caused harmful effects on the environment. The most popular and inexpensive way to get rid of garbage is burial, but burying your problems does not necessarily mean getting rid of them. Landfill sites pose as severe ecological threats as these mass garbage dump yards overflow with trash and frequently contaminate our air, soil and water with hazardous wastes. About 400 million tons of hazardous wastes are generated each year1. A large-scale release of these materials can cause thousands of deaths and may poison the environment for many years. For example many industrial companies around the world cannot afford to enforce the strict pollution regulations set by many developed countries. This usually forces these types of companies to move to developing countries where pollution regulations are very lenient. These developing countries knowingly accept environmentally hazardous companies usually because they are in desperate need of employment. The harmful effects of these companies were clearly illustrated in the 1960s and 1970s when residents living near Minamata Bay, Japan, developed nervous disorders, tremors, and paralysis in a mysterious epidemic. The root was later found to be a local industry that had released mercury, a highly toxic element, into Minamata Bay. The disaster had claimed the lives of 400 people1. Since 1970 you can bet that a lot more than 400 people have died as a result of waste disposal. If the type of waste disposal were cheaper and effective we wouldn’t have to deal with waste problems, which still plague mankind today.
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, ...
Row, J., (2010). Pros and cons of incineration for landfill relief. Bright Hub. Retrieved: November 11, 2010, from: http://www.brighthub.com/engineering/civil/articles/89810.aspx