LANDFILLS
Posted byLandfills
As I driveto work each day I pass an area that was once a landfill site. The owner of theproperty built a Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse on the site by covering thetrash with compacted fill dirt. This means the trash still exists belowcontaminating the earth. Do you want theworld to become a large garbage dump for future generations, or do you want tohelp to decrease the amount of waste going into our landfills?
Did you know…?
Every year Americanconsumers fill enough garbage trucks to create a line stretching from the earthhalfway to the moon.
We do notstop to consider what happens to our trash long-term after we dispose of it.For many consumers, out of sight is out of mind. We can see two things from the moon: (1) theGreat Wall of China and (2) the 2,200 acre “Fresh Kills Landfill” located onStaten Island in New York. We create somuch waste. From junk mail, plastic water bottles, takeout food wrappers, tothe extreme packaging manufacturers use to package products – many of theseproducts could be recycled, but instead the garbage lies in a landfill contaminatingthe earth for years to come.
Did you know…?
According to the EPA,in 1999, the state of Oregon had 33 active landfill sites occupying between51-70% of our available state land.
Consumersoften ignore claims that we are running out of active landfills and availablesites for a future landfill, so is this true? The EPA reports that the number of active landfills in the United Statesdropped from 7,924 in 1988 to only 1,654 in 2005. While these figures are a bit outdated, onething is clear, landfills are on the decline. Combine the reduced number ofsites with increasing regulations that restrict the size of a new landfill siteand it is clear that the claims are true.
Somethinghas to stop! Think about the items in yourwastebasket and consider the alternatives, such as composting orrecycling. Most Americans are aware thatwe need to recycle more, however we still have a long way to go. Government regulated bans on specific items,like plastic grocery bags, helps decrease waste in landfills and helps protectour environment. Consumer attitudes andbehaviors toward recycling are changing as the concern for the environmentincreases.
Did you know…?
Studies estimate thatAmerican consumers throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
Recovery is thesolution to this problem and to have an impact we need to first decrease ourvolume as consumers. All of our effortsto educate and inform people to “reduce, reuse, and recycle” are workingbecause, even though the world’s population will continue to grow, our landfilluse will be continue to decrease and the reliance on recycling will increasesignificantly.
References
http://www.postcom.org/eco/facts.about.landfills.htm
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