Garbage and landfills are products of the modern man. In North America, it is easy to kick garbage to the curb considering there is a $75 billion industry dedicated to dealing with American’s trash. Enormous conglomerates, such as Houston-based Waste Management or Norwell, Mass.-based Clean Harbors, control the market with locations and landfills throughout North America. Marked with canny names, the size of our waste management industry is directly correlated to the amount of waste we produce. Based on the research from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, it appears that this industry is only going to grow as Americans generate about 251 million tons of trash annually.
Today, this elusive industry curates a door-to-door trash system that leaves most consumers unconscious to their average 4.38 pounds of waste per day. The garbage crisis is more profound than this number lets on: the United States has nearly doubled its per capita output of garbage since 1960. In perspective, Americans constitute roughly five percent of the Earth’s population yet generate thirty percent of the world’s garbage. These figures account for municipal solid waste (MSW)—the garbage we toss away at home, on campus, and at the office. Unfortunately, this does not account for agricultural waste, medical waste, construction debris, mining or industrial waste, nor does MSW include litter or the fuel emissions of transportation pollution. All together, the average American is culpable for an estimated 1,600 pounds of solid waste a year. In a lifetime, we are responsible for about 90,000 pounds of garbage.
Where does all this trash end up? Roughly 55 percent gets buried in landfills. National standards dictate, design, and operate landfills to avoid groundwater contamination by using thick geomembrane (plastic) liners as a physical barrier. The standards, also, strictly monitor the disposal of banned cohesive and common materials, such as paints, cleaners, motor oil, batteries, and pesticides. Yet, landfills are not permanent structures. On-site monitoring of America’s 3,091 active landfills cannot prevent the truth that space is limited, not to mention the obvious hazard of plastic liner corroding and allowing contaminations to seep down into local water systems.
Aside from leakage and special constraints, landfills are expensive and entail enormous construction teams to cut trees, dig holes, and maintain hundreds of acres of land. America’s trash predicament starts at the local level. The Athens-Clarke County landfill spent roughly $12.2 million dollars to deforest and expand over approximately 444 acres on the Clarke County/Oglethorpe County line solely for municipal waste. Each day, the ACC landfill receives roughly 300 tons of trash, which obviously places both financial and capacity constraints on a site that has been operating just shy of 40 years. Nationally, landfills are shutting down operations, including Los Angeles County’s Puente Hills Landfill, which is one of the largest in the US.
Given the present situation, hope remains in recycling. Of the 251 million tons of MSW thrown away in 2012, almost 87 million tons were recovered through recycling. This alone saved more than 1.1 quadrillion Btu of energy, which could power the 10 million households in the state of Georgia. With a little forethought, we could reuse or recycle more than 70% of the waste that goes to landfills, which includes valuable materials such as glass, metal, and paper.
Of this garbage, organic materials—paper, paperboard, yard trimmings, and food waste—make up about 55.4 percent of our annual waste. Almost all paper, newspaper, cardboard, junk mail, and books can be recycled. In fact, Americans discarded roughly 79 million tons of paper and recycling recovered roughly 63.5 percent. Every ton of mixed paper recycled saves the energy equivalent of 165 gallons of gasoline; the reprocessing of paper reduces air pollution by 74 percent and creates 35 percent less water pollution. Additionally, one ton of paper saves 17 fully grown trees. Considering that paper and paperboard comprise 27 percent of municipal solid waste, it is imperative that Americans continue to salvage our paper waste.
Yet, after the recycling process, 164 million tons of MSW remains buried in local landfills. At 24 percent, food waste is the largest portion of discarded waste. The facts behind food waste are alarming and painful. From farms to forks, the food industry eats up 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget. It, also, occupies 50 percent of the nation’s land and 80 percent of its consumed freshwater. The National Resource Defense Council’s research revealed that 40 percent of food in the United States goes uneaten: Americans toss out roughly 20 pounds of food a month. The numbers point to a shocking truth that American throw away $165 billion each year during a period when 49 million American live hungry. The scraps from our plates decompose in landfills and releases more than 20 percent of the U.S. methane emissions—a potent greenhouse gas 21 times global warming potential of carbon dioxide.
No solution is too small. One of the biggest contributors to waste is as tiny as a cigarette butt. Globally, an estimated 5.6 trillion cigarettes are sold each year culminating to 1.69 billion pounds tossed and stomped on the ground. Despite common belief, cigarette butts are not biodegradable; the cellulose acetate (plastic) filters are found in the bellies of rivers, lakes, streams oceans, birds and animals, alike. Each year, U.S. cities spend millions on cigarette cleanup, which falls heavily on tax payers’ wallets.
Although this information presents a grim future, hope remains in composting. Composting is key ingredient in organic farms and requires a heap of green wastes—leaves, food waste, manure, and organic matter—which break down into humus after a period of weeks. The city of Austin provides compost bins to collect uneaten food scraps. Austin hopes to eliminate 90 percent of its waste by 2040. Additionally, the New York School System is working to recycle picky eaters’ leftovers in a similar composting project. Additionally, a major movement in the fashion world is transforming plastic bottles to thread for graphic t-shirts and other recycled garments. Companies like Patagonia and Rethink Fabrics are relocating trash from our cans to our closets.
With all the facts on the table, it is hard not to sound the clarions to our own destructions. But, nature does not need to be cleansed of humans. The simple actions of recycling paper and bottles go a long a way. Additionally, throwing away less food and being conscious of where we place our trash and cigarettes butts. To borrow from David George Haskell, “Our biggest failing is, after all, lack of compassion for the world. Including ourselves.” Obviously, we need to consume less, throw away less, and think long-term, but it is important to not to rebrand our responsibility into self-hatred. Loathing is the easy way out. Making a conscious effort to discard less and recycle more is a commitment to an unpromised future. These facts point to a lack of awareness to see what is hidden in plain sight. Haskell points to, perhaps, the most obvious truth: changing the world is really just a matter of changing yourself. So, what do you throw away?
– By Jack Keller/Photo Credit: CNN
