Trash Crisis
What can be done to help save the earth from our trash? This is the question at hand.
As the volume of solid waste is being rapidly produced in America, we are finding it extremely difficult to dispose of. Different business industries, institutions and individuals are producing not just solid but liquid, gas and hazardous waste. According to the EPA, approximately 73 percent of our trash was landfill in 1988 and studies show that Americans are throwing away 160 million tons of garbage a year. At this rate, the landfills will be full and we will bury ourselves in our own garbage.
In the past ten years, the number of operating landfills has decreased by 60 percent, with the majority of the closings happening in the New England States. The highest percentage of new closings is happening in the western states. The past solution was to transport trash to other places. Approximately 28,000 tons of trash is transported daily at the cost of $23 million a year per township. Obviously this isn’t working.
From what it looks like, America lives in a disposable society. We go to the store and get what is needed, then just discard what is left and not think about it. In earlier days, we use to re-sharpen razor blades, reuse aluminum foil and plastic bags and even turned grease into soap.
There is a solution to this crisis. All we have to do is follow the 3 R rule: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, in that order.
Reducing your trash relates directly to reusing and recycling, but there is more then just that. Try the first R, Reduce. When you go to purchase something, try to buy that item or items with less packaging. Who needs all of the bells and whistles in that package.
Reuse is the second R. Items that you are done with and ready to throw out, try and see if you can reuse it in other ways. People throw away clothing and towels on a daily basis because they have holes in them or they just don’t fit. Just think about it, there are several people...