Sunday, March 7, 2010

Solid Waste

BY BRETT UHLE
One of the most daunting problems the United States and the world as a whole is facing today is the problem of garbage or municipal solid waste (MSW) and what should be done with it. To some people the solution may seem as easy as recycling; however, that is much easier said than done. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, American’s alone produce over 246 million tons of waste per year, and only recycle about 32.1% of that. This means that nearly 167 million tons of America’s garbage is being put into landfills or burned into our atmosphere each and every year. Not only are we wasting valuable resources that human kind will more than likely need in the future, but we are also using up a lot of usable land that will soon be needed by the ever increasing human population.


As a concerned citizen of the United States of America I purpose that something must be done about our waste in order to protect future generations and our planet as a whole. Whether it be through improving standard recycling techniques of collecting plastics, metals, and paper and turning them into new items, or through more alternative methods such as turning landfill waste into electricity, or converting biomass into an ethanol based fuel; it is our job as the next generation to put a stop to our unnecessary wasting and get our MSW under control.

"Municiple Solid Waste (MSW): Basic Facts." Almanac of Policy Issues. Policy Almanac, 22 Oct. 2002.
Web. 10 Oct. 2009. epa_municipal_solid_waste.shtml>.

"Region 7 Solid Waste." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA, 22 Sept. 2009. Web. 6 Oct. 2009. .

15 comments:

  1. I agree that something needs to be done immediately about this, and main solution I see would be to educate the public further on the dangers of waste and the effects it could have on future generations so people would in turn recycle more and waste less. I think improving recycling technologies, and using the waste as energy are great, but i believe educating the public further about this issue would be most beneficial.

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  2. You forgot composting! Compost contributes to 17% of waste, I believe. By composting, we can reduce the amount of methane released into the atmosphere. Or, we can use some of the methane released to generate electricty, as our water waste (cleaning?) facility does.
    My vote goes to creating machines that can sort through the trash so that useful resources can be collected. We could also hire people to watch over the machines in big space suits. (The space suits would be really amusing!)

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  3. Unfortunately, this problem is systemic. The reason that we have such large levels of solid trash is because of our large levels of consumption. For the American economic system to work, citizens need to continue their habits of buying new things when old ones break (instead of fixing them), and other high consumption behaviors. As long as America seeks to remain the richest country, and we still employ an advanced capitalist society, we will continue to have too much stuff to know what to do with.

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  4. It's also important to try and rethink the way things are built in general. If companies attempted to create products that were sustainable and recyclable we could not only continue consume but also worry less about waste. Obviously this is easier said then done, but it is important to support sustainable products currently in hopes that the trend will become more widespread in the future.

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  5. I don't believe there is any technical solution to the waste dilemna without reforming our consumption- unless we move towards a paradigm shift in our demand of material goods, trash will just keep building up in almost exponential rates.

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  6. There has to be incentive to recycle. I'm too lazy to recycle and I know others are like me. I also don't necessarily care about future generations either in that I never really consider how my current actions will affect them.

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  8. I think that recycling is over simplistic. I know that the recycling process itself releases large amounts of toxins into the air. Plastics are exceptionally chemical intensive. I agree that education is key, but perhaps instead promoting reduction and reuse of materials. For example, packaging seems to be particularly wasteful in the US in comparison to Europe where packaging isn't as extensive. This could be an area for reduction. For reusing, maybe products could be standardized. Like glass bottles that could be washed, sanitized and redistributed to companies for reuse. These are just a few ideas...

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  9. I agree with johnb in that the problem is about the American way of consuming alot. But if there is no immediately perceivable solution, lets not forget that landfill gas (methane) can be and is collected and used to produce electricity, so there is some good in all our trash.

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  10. The most intuitive and effective approach I've found to this problem is converting the trash in landfills into energy, as you mentioned. By burning trash at such high temperatures that the molecules fuse to reach a plasma state, energy can theoretically be generated at a greater rate than is consumed by the process. Sequestration of resulting emissions at the same facilities could also mean that this process is not only energy-efficient, but emissions-neutral.

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  11. I completely agree with your position. If the government became more active in stopping the use of commong goods like plastic bags or waterbottles by implementing a tax, the use of such goods would be reduced dramatically. I think it is not unreasonable that households become zero waste by composting, recycling, and making an active effort to buy goods without too much waste associated with it. Although there isn't much we can do with the waste that we have already accumulated, there are things we can do to stop human induced environmental degradation in the future.

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  12. The problem with recycling is pure laziness. I have worked in the food industry for a long time and people still disregard the proper bins for recycling. IT DRIVES ME CRAZY. No matter how easy we make it for them the public still doesn't pay attention to the signs. I can't tell you how much trash I find in the compost bins at work. California eliminated plastic bags in their grocery stores and people have to either bring their own or pay around five cents per bag. I think everywhere needs to eliminate plastic bags in the grocery stores and make people pay per bag. Of course it makes people mad, but things like this need to happen. The people that are getting mad over this are probably the ones throwing trash in the compost bins.

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  13. Yes the problem is that we don't have a direct focus on what citizens everyday can do to decrease the amount of solid waste. If it could be using water bottles, water purifiers,reusable grocery bags, more efficient recycling and composting. However, people and the nations wont be able to solve the problem of solid waste until there is a mass incentive to cooperate with each other and try to tackle this problem together.

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  14. Solid waste is a huge problem, and recycling is a temporary remedy, but fails to address the root problem that is consumerism. Recycling makes people feel better about buying things but does not encourage people to stop buying so much STUFF. If anything, it makes people feel better about their consumerist lifestyles.

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  15. I agree that consumption practices of developing countries, notably America, must change. Recycling is only one of many possible solutions. There does need to be adequate incentive to recycle, but recycling technologies and practices must be made more efficient. I know many people who have no idea what can and cannot be recycled.

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