Making Trash Useful

926 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Studies on effects of solid waste

It is an accepted thought that trash is useless garbage. "Trash," as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is things that are no longer useful or wanted and that have been thrown away. This paper will acknowledge the facts that disprove this definition. Trash can be viewed different ways by so many people and this will lay out some of those very clearly. The reason for this paper is to explain ways to make use for garbage that no one wants, and as a result, better the environment, lifestyles, and our overall value of being on planet Earth. Trash is a huge problem in the world today. Each person produces 4.3 pounds of trash every day, and 85% of that trash is sent to the landfills. This causes so many problems for our people, country, animals, and environment in the short term, but also in the future. Every day people throw away plastic bottles, wrapping, boxes, gum, food, cans, etc. All of these things do not just disappear once they go down the garbage shaft of your apartment building. Those things all have to end up somewhere. It is a law of science that matter cannot be created or destroyed. So, any matter that exists, will exist forever. Should humans really be allowing this "waste" to exist among our landfills for ages and ages forever? Or should they do something about it? Figure out a way to reuse and recycle and give back to earth as it has given so much to them. Composting has almost seemed like a new trend over the past decade or so, but it really is one of the biggest solutions to the trash problem that humans have discovered. As God said about our bodies coming from the dust and to dust they shall return, food and other materials that have been produced by land should be returned to land so that the cycle may con... ... middle of paper ... ...en think of landfills as being not that bad, we see pictures of a bulldozer pushing trash, but what is really the issue? This photograph above really gives a literal clear picture of just how massive one landfill is. And just think about how many millions of landfills there are around the entire world. Hopefully this makes people more aware of the severity of the issue at hand. Changing the world is not an easy feat and we cannot do it alone. If only I composted and recycled, but no one else did, it would not even make a dent in the issue that our world faces. But if each person realized that they matter and were inspired to do it, we could all form an army against this issue and fight back. We would be able to make a difference. Works Cited http://warrensburg.k12.mo.us/trees/students/students/katiel/ http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/tools/localgov/benefits/

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Garbology By Edwards Humes

    1767 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Susan Strasser's Waste And Want: A Social History Of Trash

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Elizabeth Royte's Garbage Land

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    She suggests that Americans should reduce their overconsumption of such commodities since they are overburdening the non-biodegradable waste load in the garbage collection facilities. It is surprising to note that every Americans disposes more than four pounds of trash on a daily basis (Royte, 2005).

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Landfills

    1533 Words  | 4 Pages

    We need to stay away from the landfills as much as we can so eventually we can get rid of them all together. The benefits of compost include increased soil organic matter content, nutrients for plant growth, replacement of peat moss in potting media, reduced erosion, plant disease resistance, weed suppression and generally improved plant vigor (Barlaz 62). Instead of taking grass clippings to the trash people can leave them laying in the yard to decompose or they can use them to help make their compost. People can even make their own composting bins to use at their homes. There are several reasons why people should compost. If people start composting they can keep their garbage, yard trimmings or leaves from getting to the landfills. Which in turn will keep those things from getting in our water or water supplies. If these things get in our waterways or water treatment facilities it just makes more work for other people. Also by composting people will help their plants look healthier. Sharon Durham talks about manure, composting and how it effects the soil in her article, “Improving on a Time-Tested Technique.” Durham says, “Composting results in stabilization of nitrogen in organic form for use in soil” (20). The soil the plant is grown in will be better and help the plants produce better if you are growing food. “Compost may even be tailor-made to reduce phosphorus availability and

    Read More

  • To What Exetent Does Recycling Decrease the Carbon Footprint

    3211 Words  | 7 Pages

    In conclusion to this investigation one thing is clear and that is that recycling reeks benefits to the environment, Recycling material when compared to making material from raw material is a more efficient energy saving and more environmentally friendly way to reuse material that is usually consider as trash such as empty glass, and plastic bottles, or old newspapers. Recycling helps reduce the possible carbon emissions greatly and does reduce the human carbon footprint. But Recycling doesn’t resolve the pollution that is around the world today. Leading to new questions, questions like what about the landfills are they sustainable, and if so for how long. How long until the air becomes unbreathable? How long until Earth becomes its own furnace?

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Landfills

    1149 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Why People Should Recycle

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    If everyone recycled think of how much more space there would be in landfills across the world. There is only so much room on this earth and we are using a huge portion of it for our trash. Clearlake, California alone on a busy day can bring in 80,000 pounds of trash to the local dump. I know this because I work at the local dump in Mckinleyville. I also see a lot of people that throw away their recycling for the simple reason of being too lazy to sort it. I watch bag after of bag of plastic, aluminum, and glass get thrown into the bin which we haul straight to a landfill in Anderson, California. If everyone in Mckinleyville recycled there plastic, aluminum and glass they could save thousands of pounds a day from going to the landfill. I think people are not informed that waste is a big problem in this world. But in fact conservation is an issue, and resources and energy aren't too plentiful. Someday these resources are going to run out. But the more we recycle the longer we can make these resources last.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Recycling

    1810 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Benefits of Recycling Are a Myth. Garbage and Recycling -. Ed. Mitchell Young. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007.

    Read More

  • Why Recycling Is Worth

    1726 Words  | 4 Pages

    To implement a recycling program requires a collection process that includes the containers to gather the materials, the trucks to transport them to the processing site, and the manpower to manage the program. Unfortunately, recycling is more of a business than an attempt to save the environment. The value of the material being recycled overshadows the negative impact of dumping items into the landfill. At a point in time, the demand for recycled paper declined, so recyclers stored the material in hopes that values would increase. “The hope is that eventually the markets turn around and that the materials is sold, but I have heard of instances where it gets landfilled, because a community doesn’t have the demand or the space or the company to deal with it, “ says Gene Jones, the executive director of Southern Waste Information Exchange (Westervelt,

    Read More

  • The Importance of Recycling to Our Health and Environment

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    Our world is getting to the point to where we will be surrounded by trash. There are hazards happening because of the excess trash, which could have been recycled. Although the government is not doing their best to make these hazards stop, surprisingly it is the non-governed organizations that are trying to make the difference. Proven studies and facts have been made about these issues, so people should take this into consideration and start recycling more. Recycling is a beneficial process that is not required globally like it should be because citizens are uneducated on the process and what it can do. People who are not recycling do not know the hazards they are causing everywhere.

    Read More

  • Recycling Essay

    1427 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine you are on vacation on a cruise having a great time. You look around and see the ocean is covered with garbage. According to Discovermagazine.com, there are patches of garbage present in the middle of the oceans. If you collect all garbage in the oceans, it would be double in height to Mount Everest. According to climatechange.com, if we do not act immediately, not recycling is going to affect our environment. Refusing to recycle the waste materials would poison the food and water we use, leading to our death. Recycling affects the earth more than we can imagine. We’ve got be more aggressive towards reducing and reusing the waste material, as there is an increase in the amount of garbage production.

    Read More

  • Innovative Waste Disposal

    911 Words  | 2 Pages

    As humanity develops new technology, the magnitude and severity of waste increases. When computers were developed, it widely was believed that the need for paper would be eliminated. On the contrary this was widely proven false and we are now utilizing more paper than ever. Canada is not an exception as the typical Canadian generates an average of three pounds of solid waste each day1. This alone shows what a careless species we have become- using and disposing materials without even considering the damage we are causing. With half a trillion tones of waste around the world, only 25% may be reused for a second or third time and less than 5% can be renewed limitlessly1. These facts are true only in developed countries. Since these traditional waste reduction methods have been proven inefficient, we must endorse new innovative technology to arrive at a solution.

    Read More

  • Everyone Should Care About The Environment

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    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, ...

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech On Recycling Plastic

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1870’s, plastic was discovered in the United States when John Wesley Hyatt was trying to create a different material to make billiard balls (Manrich, 3). Little did he know it would majorly evolve into material we use everyday. However, plastics are now taking over our landfills. The average American throws away one-hundred and eighty-five pounds of plastic a year (Popescu, 121). The answer to decrease this statistic is easy: recycling. I believe that recycling will help eliminate littering and the growth of landfills, while also creating jobs for the unemployed. Not only does recycling plastic help eliminate littering, but also reuses the plastic so there is not a production of additional unneeded plastics. The

    Read More

  • The Problem of Garbage Disposal

    2433 Words  | 5 Pages

    Due to the fact that there is a huge problem with garbage disposal, government representatives must contribute to resolving this issue. Efficient waste management approaches help with reducing and avoiding unpleasant impacts on the environment and human health, while allowing for financial development and progress in the quality of people’s lives. People do not even imagine the size and capacity of their activities and the impact they produce on the environment. Garbage is an important ecological problem. It seems amazing that approximately all of the citizens of the world identify rubbish as a major environmental problem and yet these people still litter.

    Read More

More about Making Trash Useful

Open Document