Disposable Society

Heather Roger claims our current garbage disposal methods are short term and etiquette. Rogers’s position is clear that we need to minimize the use of landfills and create better means to discard trash. In supporting Rogers’s environment views I think that we need to create a more economic and environmental friendly garbage disposal system. Heather Rogers and Lars Eighner both acknowledge the issue with society’s throwaway mentality. Eighner proves that we throw away perfectly working stuff, having survived off others discarded materials. Eighner argues against excessive waste we create but does not have any prospected solutions. Whereas Rogers acknowledges the obvious need to minimize our consumption of waste but argues the need

There is rising unease about throwing out plastic products as well as the accumulation of plastic products in our oceans and landfills. This poses problems for all species in the environment, such as animals becoming tangled in smaller products, organisms consuming the products, or transferring chemicals directly to humans in the surrounding environment. Plastic products being dumped into landfills is not sustainable for our present and future environment. A small amount of fossil fuels is being used to create plastic products. The fossil fuels are practically wasted because the products are cheaply made and are thrown out shortly after purchase. Depleting the amount of fossil fuels, rapidly filling up landfills, and manufacturing briefly used plastic products is not sustainable for our environment. Increasing the amount of recycling, cutting down on plastic production, and reducing on the amount of littering are all valuable solutions to cut down the amount of plastic in landfills. (Thompson, Moore, vom Saal,

It makes me feel guilty when I have my bottle of water with me, even though I put it in the recycle bin at the end of the day, I now wonder about where it will end up. Does it go to another plastic product to be tossed aside, this indestructible piece of plastic? I am concerned as I watch the people of “convenience” walk by and I look at the products that we all carry to help us make our lives easier. I note the woman next to me has two of the “better water bottles”, one with a small round spring in it to help stir the liquid “meal on the go” that she has in that particular bottle. Another person walks by with a liquid breakfast in a Styrofoam cup, another non-biodegradable product. A couple of construction workers sit down across the room with their

Each year there is an increase in demands for plastic bags, and therefore more are shipped, creating further environmental pollution concerns. This increase in demand has lead to the phenomenal upsurge in the use and misuse of plastic bags globally, both in developed and developing countries. Statistics show that 4 to 5 trillion plastic bags are produced per annum, whereby North America and Western Europe account for nearly 80% (Geographical, 2005; Reusable Bags, 2005). Cheeseman (2007) states that approximately “380 billion plastic shopping bags are used in the United States annually”; in turn, only 0.6% of this is recycled.

(Ban the Bottle, 2014) In the previous year, the average American used approximately 167 disposable water bottles but only recycled 38. (Ban the Bottle, 2014) Statistics collected by the Health Research Funding organization illustrate that only 1 in 5 water bottles are recycled while the other four contribute to the 3 billion pounds of waste from plastic water bottles. (HRF, 2014) Depending on the size and volume, the cost of bottled water usually covers packaging, advertising, shipping and administrative processes. (HRF, 2014) If an individual purchases water bottles often, the cost accumulates and mass waste is produced but if one were to purchase a reusable bottle, hundreds of dollars can be saved in a year while also keeping the landfills and waste bins clear of plastic bottles and caps. (Ban the Bottle,

In the article “ Baby bottoms and environmental conundrums: disposable diapers and the pediatrician” by Marianne B Sutton; Michael Weitman; Jonathan Howland. The authors mention that disposable baby diapers cause harm to people and the environment when in landfills, and in some cases they get shipped off to other countries when the landfills get filled. Diapers make up 5% of household waste and 1% to 3% of solid waste in the United States (Marianne B Sutton; Michael Weitman; Jonathan Howland). However, this a problem with a solution such as using reusable diapers when possible to minimize the amount of disposable diapers being thrown out.

You can’t walk across a college campus, past an office building, or through a park without seeing one, two, or ten empty bottles. Many are plastic water bottles. Trash bins overflow them. Those water bottles are a problem. Why? Because only one out of five bottles actually makes it to a recycling bin. Plastic bottles take centuries to decompose and if they are incinerated, toxic byproducts, such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals, are releasing into the atmosphere. The rest are littered on our streets or over filing our landfills. They degrade our landscape and damage our environment. In addition the plastic water bottles are not biodegradable that is, they don’t decay. They remain as trash a hundreds of years.

Recycling is one of the most common ways to keep America clean. The recycling bins are one of the most recognizable logos across the world. People all across the U.S. have recycling bins, inside of their household. The sad thing is most people do not use them, they most of the time just throw stuff in the regular trash that could be recycled. For example, plastic, paper, cans, glass, cardboard, and even computer hardware (www.recycleacrossamerica.org). People don’t realize that they could be doing the world a big favor, just by recycling these everyday items.

People must change from a culture of pure consumerism to one of sustained consumerism where consideration is given to the products lifetime and disposal.

“When was the last time you spent an entire day without using a piece of disposable plastic?” This quote is used by Kitt Doucette in her article, An Ocean of Plastic (412). It shows that using plastic water bottles are becoming a part of people’s lifestyle, regardless people don’t think about the consequences of using them. Water is a necessary part to human life and without water we cannot survive. Humans need at least eight glasses of water to make up for the fact that we lose an average of ten glasses per day throughout normal functions such as sweating and breathing. We must drink the right amount of water in order to stay healthy. There are millions of people worldwide who use plastic water bottles, and there have been massive sustainability

This investigation looked into the impact disposable nappies have on Australian landfill sites. High numbers of children are in disposable nappies for approximately the first three years of their life (State of Victoria, n.d.). Caregivers and day care providers are then disposing these used nappies into the garbage, which then ends in the Australian landfill. What impact is this having on Australian landfill sites and is there a way to be more sustainable? The impact disposable nappies are have on the Australian environment include global warming and climate change, once they reach landfill (Government of South Australia Zero Waste SA, 2015). More awareness needs to be made to help future caregivers make a more sustainable decision. There

That we don't have to worry if we lose any of them. Sure it makes our lives easier, but we need to stop thinking of ourselves and start looking for ways we could use to replace plastic bags, without it causing any harm to the environment and wild life. For example,” But the problems surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before they photodegrade. Our planet is becoming increasingly contaminated by our unnecessary use of plastic bags,”( Sharon Jacobsen, para.4). Sharon Jacobsen is explaining in this quote that plastic bags are, basically, unnecessary. For another example,” Big black bin liners, plastic carrier bags carrying advertising logos, clear sandwich bags and a variety of other forms are all polluting our environment. They're lightweight, handy and easily discarded. Too easily discarded,”( Sharon Jacobsen, para.5). By saying this, she meant since plastic bags are easy to get rid of, this is how problems are created, problems such as landfills and destroying marine life. What we need to start improving is to not think about our selves entirely and discuss what should do to help the things around

Ever since I moved to the US, it has bothered me how carelessly people use disposable everything--dishes, cups, cutlery, bottles--you name it. But the worst of it by far is the plastic grocery bag. In the beginning, I was mystified by the grocery baggers who would put a milk bottle with a handle into two plastic bags, which would then break right away. When I asked not to put my things in plastic bags, they would put everything in a paper bag inside a plastic bag! And when I asked more assertively, someone would surely

People Need to Recycle In the United Sates, where the population is inflated every year. The amount of space for landfills decreases every day. The need for recycling should not be asked, it should just be done out of habit. Everyone in America needs to recycle, to help the lamdfill problem, help the environment, and help produce new products from recycled goods. In America there is about two-hundred and eight tons of residential and commercial trash generated a year, 4.3 pounds per person a day (Prichard 1A). This is an overwhelming amount of trashed produced yearly. When people recycle this number can be drastically cut. But many people do not practice and use

Five hundred billion used globally and one hundred billion of them end up in U.S. landfills, taking about one thousand years to decompose, but only 5.2 percent were recycled (Borrud, 2007, p.75).-These are the figures plastic bags have produced every year. Human beings invented plastic bags for the convenience of carriers and packers. However, just as other great inventions, say, nuclear energy and biotechnology, plastic bags are causing serious issues like global warming, environment pollution and energy consumption. They are gradually becoming sword towards ourselves. In responding to this problem, the city of San Francisco has become the trail blazer to prohibit non-biodegradable plastic bags in its large supermarkets and pharmacies.