Landfills Landfills have been around for a long time. They have been used to get rid of our garbage so we don’t have to figure out how. Some think landfills are still a good idea. However there are many people that think landfills are harmful to us. There are other things that we in the United States can do to help with removal of our garbage or waste besides send it to the landfills. So closing down landfills would be a good idea or we could close down as many as we can. To be able to get rid of the landfills Americans need to learn more about composting, recycling and incineration as other forms of waste removal. Harmful emissions from the landfills escape into the air we breathe. The soil and water are also contaminated from our …show more content…
Barlaz says, “Recycling still causes some emissions” (62). However recycling starts at home with the consumer. When people go out to buy groceries, clothes, food or any other things they should think about the purchases before they buy them. Consumers buy groceries but they chose to use plastic or paper bags. Instead of using those they could use reusable cloth bags. Some people would rather use the plastic or paper bags. If they do then they should recycle those bags instead of just throwing them away in the garbage and hoping they get in the recycling area. Recycling cans and glass jars saves energy needed to make new ones. People can save energy by recycling other things like paper and plastic. Humes says, “Recycling aluminum cans saves ninety-six percent of the energy needed to produce aluminum from bauxite ore” (260). Also, “recycling the glass jars and bottles saves twenty-one percent of the energy needed to make new glass” (260). So if everyone could start recycling their cans, glass, paper and plastic that would save us a lot of energy that would need to be used to make new ones. If we can start recycling at home that will make things much easier on the waste management plants and our world. If people don’t want to recycle at their homes and separate everything they can just put all their trash in the can and it will eventually be separated and recycled. As people become more educated about …show more content…
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
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?
‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’ are what a person chants if someone mentions the word recycling. Nicks J defines recycling as ‘[T]he processing of waste materials in order to make them reusable” (11). Individuals who recycle are not just throwing papers in green bins, or cans in blue; in fact, they are helping the environment more than they can imagine. People who want to preserve and protect their planet take the initiative to recycle waste materials. Rather than throwing away old plastic or glass bottles, aluminum cans, and certain types of paper, one can simply recycle them, and they will go through a cleaning and the remanufacturing process to be remade into a new usable item. There are many benefits of recycling, but a lot of people will argue against it. As Bauer, Mary states, “[Recycling] is a messy process That uses caustic chemicals and produces harmful byproducts and emissions” (12). Regardless, recycling programs have been implemented in many places such as California and Georgia and have been successful. Hence, individual’s states in the United States should make recycling mandatory because recycling will reduce E-Waste pollution, reduce waste, and benefit the economy.
Also recycling as spoiled societies in well developed regions. I Believe we consume way more then we need because we know it 's will be reused for a good cause but all that waste is generating more working for recyclers which in way is counterbalancing the environmental benefit. In Junkyard Planet by Adam Minter he spoke on a study that was done at the university where they observed the paper towel usage in a men 's restroom over a period of time. First with just a trash can and then the second time the recycling bin included the study found that that people used about half a hand towel more where there was a recycling bin (pg 266). “The increasing consumption found is partially due to the fact that consumers are well aware that recycling is beneficial for the environment: however the costs of recycling are less salient”(Minter 267). I believe the reason why recycling isn 't technically working is because we consumer see recycling as a first option when it 's actually should be sacred process that should be used in rarity. We as consumers need to think conserve instead of
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
1). Landfills are a form of waste management that includes trench-based disposal sites and engineered facilities (Department of the Environment and Energy, 2013, p. 5). Australian landfills receive 20 million tonnes of waste each year accounting for 40 percent of Australian waste (Department of the Environment and Energy. 2013, p. 4). According to BDA Group (2009), landfill results in environmental damage by emission of greenhouse gases, air pollution and water contamination through leachate (p. 4).
It is quite possible for the Earth to turn into a large landfill or garbage dump, however it is quite certain a preventative measure will be developed before that can happen. When looking at emission data, one can conclude that the Earth would have possibly succumbed to global warming as seen in the movie. In a study by Aljaradin & Persson (2016) the emission potential was tested on a solid waste landfill in Jordan. After 200 days, showed a methane content of over 45% and 15.7 l of Leachate was produced (Aljaradin & Persson, 2016:45). Methane is an important greenhouse gas, and one of the causes of global warming. Methane is 84 times more effective than CO2 at trapping heat in a shorter time (over the first 20 years). Leachate contributes greatly to the pollution of ground and surface water when improperly managed. Therefore it could be entirely possible that these landfills and dump sites caused the entire planet to succumb to the effects of global warming and uncontrollable
I am not a big earth first person but I do believe in recycling because I work at a local recycling center and I think recycling is a good thing. In fact I think everyone should recycle to make the earth a better place as a whole. A few good reasons why recycling is a good this is, the more people recycle, the less room is filled in landfills. Also, when people recycle they are reusing materials, therefore saving resources. Another good reason is that when you recycle often times you get paid back the C.R.V. that you already paid for in the grocery store.
Landfills are massively packed with garbage and rotten food that could have been used for another purpose. Research shows that 2% of all the U.S. energy goes into food that American consumers are wasting. Another problem is that people who live in poverty can't afford to buy nutritious food for themselves and their own families. That makes not only children, but adults weaker as well. Not only does that hurt them physically, but mentally as
b. Another myth about landfills is that they are poisoning the soil and our water supply. Even the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, says modern landfills pose little to no risk to humans. Modern landfills are built on a thick foundation of clay and plastic liners. Also, the methane gas produced in biodegradation is often...
Lots of recycled products are less expensive than brand new ones. Buying cans, bottles, paper, and some clothing items made from recycled goods are all potential ways to save you money. People can use their recycled items. People can use their recycled paper to make pencil which saves money. When people make paper it cost $25,000 dollars a month. If people use recycled paper, then it won't even cost about $100. The benefit in cost per can in terms of savings is so low that it's quite insignificant. On another level, the savings in terms of energy required in making a new can from scratch as compared to making it from an existing can is tremendous. The cost of aluminum would be high if people did not recycle it. Metals like copper, iron, and steel can also be recycled. Scrap bits of metal can be brought to a scrap dealer who will pay cash for the metal. Automobile manufacturers get good money for scrap metal too. Some people think that recycling is a great way to save
Not only benefiting us, our involvement in making compost benefits the environment also. As if we already don’t have enough garbage filling our landfills, we certainly don’t need our yard waste to waste any more space when we can so easily handle it ourselves. Compost helps reduce the volume it could contribute to landfills. Why put it into the earth that way, when we can enrich it by turning our yard waste into a natural fertilizer? It also helps prevents us from purchasing pesticides and chemical fertilizers that could further damage the environment and the animals around us.
Most importantly, it saves lives. We should all learn the importance of recycling. For example, some sea lions won?t get stuck in plastics if we recycle. We would also breathe better air. We can recycle and aluminum can and put it back on the shelf for something useful. If we just leave it in the landfill, it?ll decompose and it?ll be of no use. It?ll also reduce pollution or else it?ll make a new one.
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
Landfills. The first thing that might come to one’s head is an ugly, vast pile of trash. The reality is landfills are actually very complicated and useful structures. The U.S. has tripled its trash production since 1960. Americans alone generate 4.6 pounds of trash per day per person. This comes up to an astounding 275 million tons of trash per year. 55% of this trash ends up in landfills across the country. On that note, the U.K. relies on them so heavily, that they use them for 90% of their solid waste. If it wasn’t for landfills, trash would be virtually lining the streets. Landfills are complex and varying structures that greatly benefit society. The question is: what exactly is a landfill?
...or lakes (Weber 2). When people just dump waste products instead of recycling, it is a misuse of the soil and can contribute to serious health conditions in animals, plants and humans.