Personal Solutions Assignment: Solid Waste

712 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of waste recycling

Personal Solutions Assignment

Solid Waste
I. Current Routine
For my solid waste measurement, I counted the number of bags or trash I threw away daily. Because I don’t eat in my dorm or do any cooking for myself, this number is probably significantly lower than the amount of waste I realistically produce. I only take out my garbage when the bag is full so not every day has data.
Over 15 days, I threw away 8 bags of waste. Each of these bags is 8-gallons and they are always full when thrown away. This comes out to be just over 4 gallons of trash a day. This graph shows the days I took out trash and how many bags of trash I disposed of. To find the amount of gallons used, the number of bags can be multiplied by 8.
II. Proposed Adjustments
A majority of the trash I’m throwing away is plastic water bottles. The reasonable solution to this would …show more content…

I can also recycle the plastic bottles I do use. I estimate that doing these two things could cut the waste I’m producing in half.
Carbon Footprint
I. Current Routine
I currently live in on-campus housing with one roommate. We each have our own room and share a living room and a bathroom. To obtain the best analysis of my energy usage, I only recorded when the lights were on in my room rather than when any light in the dorm was on. I couldn’t find an exact answer on what light bulbs were in the fixtures in my room, but my best estimate that they are 32-watt, T8 fluorescent bulbs. There are four of them in total with two bulbs per light fixture. When I’m in my room, I keep both light fixtures on.
At the end of two weeks, I had my lights on for 5,882 minutes or about 98 hours. Running 4, 32-watt light bulbs for 98 hours comes out to 12.544 kWh. The equivalent amount of coal this takes is 3.4 pounds. This graph is the number of hours I had lights on in my

Show More
Related

  • The Pros And Cons Of Bottled Water

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    World wide it takes about 72 billion gallons of water each year to make the bottles alone. This massive waste only expands as only twenty percent of the bottles end up being recycled. Those that are not recycled could end up in landfills, in the park, or on the side of the highway, where it could take a thousand years or more to degrade. (RD) However there are healthy, eco-friendly, and affordable ways to carry around tap water. Aluminum bottles are built to be carried in cars, in bags, and on your belt loop. There are even bottles that filter water as people drink them. So even on vacation people can drink from public sources without fear of contaminates. These alternatives won’t only save you money, but protect your health and the environment too.

    Read More

  • Difference Between Bottled Water Vs Tap Water

    2641 Words  | 6 Pages

    In today’s society it is uncommon to see people walking around without water. Those who carry water with them either have their water in a reusable bottle or have bought bottled water. Bottled water is the more commonly found type of water carried around, reason being that it is easy to just buy a huge pack so that a person can just grab a bottle a go. The problem with bottled water is that more often than not, the bottle does not get recycled, but instead gets thrown into the garbage. The problem with this is that the bottles end up in a landfill. However, in this past year alone American’s used “about 50 billion plastic water bottles” (Ban The Bottle, n.d., Para. 4). Most people do not see the big difference between bottled water and tap

    Read More

  • How Can the United States Lessen its Dependence on Fossil Fuels?

    1536 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ross, J. P., & Meier, A. (2001). Whole-house measurements of standby power consumption. In Energy Efficiency in Household Appliances and Lighting (pp. 278-285). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

    Read More

  • The Usage of Water Bottles Should Be Banned

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    The US Container Recycling Institute estimates that 67 million plastic water bottles are discarded every day, enough plastic water bottles to wrap around the planet 149 times each year. Indeed, plastic water bottles should be banned from use by the public. The usage of water bottles should be suppressed because they are unimaginably dangerous, wasteful, expensive, and rarely recycled.

    Read More

  • Water Inc. Marketing Plan

    1661 Words  | 4 Pages

    Promote social responsibility; recycle scrap water bottles and use recycled plastic in the production of our bottles

    Read More

  • Effects of Plastic Bottles On the Environment

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    Water bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics that don’t biodegrade, but they are completely recyclable. PETs photo degrade, they break down into smaller fragments over time. These fragments absorb all the toxins that pollute waterways, contaminate soil, and sicken animals (which are then consumed). The plastic trash also absorbs organic pollutants such as BPA. They take centuries to decompose while sitting in landfills, amounting to billions of environmentally poisonous time bombs.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Tap Water Over Tap

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    world with pollution of plastic bottles that we can't get rid of easily, but also

    Read More

  • The Importance of Recycling

    399 Words  | 1 Pages

    Have you ever wonder what can you do about the bottles and cans you find around you? People that doesn?t care about the world being clean is littering the place. It makes things very difficult to put up for. Recycling cans and bottles can help save the earth form waste and trash buildup and can make new things. I think that recycling should be mandatory and there should be recycling cans in various locations at school and everywhere else.

    Read More

  • Everyone Should Care About The Environment

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    People should know the negative impact throwing away a water bottle or newspaper, purchasing meat from the grocery store or consuming gasoline has on the environment, and many do not. By informing society about how their decisions affect the environment, we can help save our planet and change our attitude toward the land we live on, the water we drink and the air we breathe” and truly show respect for the stuff that we depend on. The United States produces “about 8.25 billion tons of solid waste each year” (Russell 1). People do not realize the impact they have on our planet and the environment. When people throw anything in the trashcan, they are contributing to the destruction of our planet.

    Read More

  • Solid Waste Management

    1469 Words  | 3 Pages

    Further, “In 2008, nearly 13 tonnes of waste were generated by Canadian households. Of this, more than 8.5 million tonnes were disposed of in landfills or incine...

    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

    The average resident produces seven and a half pounds of garbage every day that is buried down in landfills and litter lands, costing a great amount of money. Nowadays, people face no more critical problem than the need to save the weakening environment, mainly in urban areas, where solid wastes are uselessly dumped. It has been observed that cities have no controlled structure for garbage disposal. Each year, millions of dollars are spent picking up litter and more is thrown away in valuable materials that could be recycled. As humanity develops new technology and equipment, the level of waste increases every day.

    Read More

  • Effects Of Solid Waste Essay

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    Solid waste can be classified in different types, depending on their source, household waste is generally classified as municipal waste; industrial waste as hazardous waste or hospital waste as infections waste. It quite obvious that South Africa environment is deteriorated by the illegal dumping area that around here. Solid waste is a major problem this country is facing at the moment. The province that is experience this major problem is Gauteng province, this an urban area am taking about, and since it’s clear that over population is the cause of the problem. Gauteng province is an over populated than rural area .solid waste pollution is refuse or garbage that people use in their everyday life in their house, such as plastic

    Read More

  • Environmental Problems Essay

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    America and Europe are at the top of the list for most waste generated according to Waste (4). This is very visible because there’s litter on every street in the towns and cities, as well in lakes, beaches, and rivers. The book Waste by Rob Bowden states that the amount of waste produced is increasing at a rate faster than population growth. About 1.5 million computers, in the U.K, are thrown away each year and most end up in landfills. There are 3 types of waste which are Municipal Solid Waste, Industrial Waste, and Hazardous waste. MSW includes waste from public garbage cans and local dumpsters. Industrial Waste includes massive amounts of waste water that is contaminated with chemicals. Hazardous waste is the most dangerous as it presents a danger to human health and the environment. Solutions for waste disposal take time because people need to consider their lifestyle and limit the amount of waste they generate. A good start is to recycle items such as paper, cans, plastic, and clothes. This way they don’t end up in landfills, beaches, or streets. Another solution is to join organizations that go around places to recycle, or organizations that demand the reduction in the amount of products that are being

    Read More

  • Essay On Waste Disposal

    1650 Words  | 4 Pages

    The solid wastes are produce not only by households; it’s contributed by hospitals and corporations. Hospitals throw away bandages, use needles and latex gloves, these items hospitals throw away daily all the time because they can’t be reuse for the safety of its patients. Corporations throw away a lot of waste as well such as papers that they use whether in writing or in projects. All of these leftovers after consumptions are waste that is produced by our daily actions.

    Read More

More about Personal Solutions Assignment: Solid Waste

Open Document