Recycling and Steel Drum

Municipal solid wastes are leftovers made by the population such as food, plastic bottles, household wares and many more. These items referred by most as “the garage” or “trash”. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2015) In the early 1900’s, incinerators were used to burn waste however by the Mid-20th century, lawmakers enacted the first government regulations in an attempt to address increasing concerns about the environmental impact of unregulated waste management practices. With the first waste management legislation being passed in 1965, brought along the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, thus bringing us into a new world of waste management.(Vault, n.d.)

The EPA has a ‘Waste Management Hierarchy’ and it begins with reducing and reusing what we consume in order to reduce waste.

In the awakening of the Industrial Revolution around the 1800s, technology, and science rapidly advanced, leaving the human race unable to resist the manufacturing age that aggressively expanded in the 21st century. With all these changes, the launch of the industrial era witnessed a revolutionary transition from the small-scale and fewer pollutant factories to the full-scale industries that became mass producers and manufacture units through the centuries. However, the lack of policies to control pollution, the unplanned industrial growth, and the industries’ inefficiency to dispose of the waste are a couple of examples that have lead– particularly the U.S., to face major environmental disasters due to the excessive and continuous industrial pollution that arose as a result of industrialization. In response to these changes, it is necessary that our nation as a world power invest in better technology for the disposal of waste and recycling since at this point technological regression is somewhat unreal. In addition, similarly to what Rachel Carson and Jared Diamond implicitly advocated in their essays, we must aim to push policies into place to prevent the misuse of land, promote organic methods for production, and encourage the school system to invest in environmental activities to encourage the millennial generation in every corner of the world to adopt a green mindset.

Imagine if we had 50% even 60% of materials being recycled, that would mean less of the

Engaging with the problems with landfills and other problems with landfills will help reduce greenhouse gasses and other hazardous wastes, while relieving the stress of finding ways to help the landscape and biodiversity of earth tremendously. The topics that will be discussed are about Landfills, Biodegradation, and hazardous wastes. Landfills, have become more and more of a problem each and every day because the Americans are producing more waste than they have been. Individually, we need to find better ways to fix our biodegradation systems we have because if landfills don't degrade properly then it can be very dangerous for the areas around them. Hazardous waste is the worst type of waste when there is no way to treat it (Lerner). Hazardous

The recycling system most of America uses, is flawed, like the majority of any type of system, used in America. The main type of recycling companies, use machines that “sort” through the different types of plastic, then proceeds to be melted or crushed into one hunk of plastic. (Terry,Beth page 73) On the contrary, the plastic we recycle, does not stay in the U.S.A, we send it to China, to then be used to resell back to us (“Made in China: Our Toxic, Imported Air Pollution”). Not only do we do the main processing, the machines often get clogged with the thin plastic bags, so most of them do not even get to the melting stage. Plastic bags really are just a nuisance, with no positive attributes. Washington D.C. even put a tax on plastic bags, in hopes to reduce the amount being distributed. It worked, but too well. (“No Paper, No Plastic. The Tax That Works Too Well.”) According to a survey made by councilman Tommy Wells, the use of plastic bags by shoppers has dropped 50% (“No Paper, No Plastic. The Tax That Works Too Well”). In even better news, for the supporters of a clean Earth, the funds that were made by the tax, are now being used toward clean-up efforts for the Anacostia River, which is a polluted urban waterway clogged with plastic bags. Since the clean up began, the amount of plastic found in the river have significantly decreased. Legislature members are arguing though, that with the decreased amount of plastic bags being used, so will the contamination in the river, thus making the clean up crew pointless. The tax created to help reduce the amount of plastic bags, is slowly making its way around, California tried the bill, but was not passed. Getting involved in your community, can help the government pass bills, like the plastic bag

After having an opportunity to research for alternative methods of waste management, I am confident we will be able to implement methods that are significantly less harmful to the environment than our current process. This would not only benefit the environment, but also boost our public image. We must prove that we are not only concerned about pollution, but also dedicated to preventing it.

What types of items can be turned into a scrap metal recycling center? Everyone knows that vehicles can be turned in for cash but are there really other items around the house that can be worth something? With just one walk around the house and the backyard, families might be surprised to learn what items they can recycle. Here are just a few examples.

The author gives a historical analysis on the management of waste in the United States shifting from a historical description to an analysis of the general influence of political and economic forces that shape the way we manage waste today. Throughout most of history, recycling has primarily occurred as a result of a scarcity of material. This becomes clear in the first chapter where the author talks about how the availability of pulpwood and rags was extremely low due to war outcome, therefore the government called upon the citizens to supply old rags in exchange of other goods. These are the first steps of recycling in the United States. The author explains that first the word “recirculate” was used to describe the recirculation of water

Here in the United States alone, we produced 3.412 million tons of electronic waster, also known as e-waste (Facts and Figures 2014). However only one million tons were recycled correctly, according to the standards of the Environmental Protection Agency (Facts and Figures 2014). So, that means that two million tons were disposed of through landfills or other disposal methods. This enormous amount of e-waste has become a prominent issue due to our political economic system, better known as capitalism. However, our capitalistic system doesn’t just effect our country when it comes to e-waste, it also effects the environmental conditions of the newly developing countries around the Globe too (Wilson 2017).

Let us talk about the recyclable and how we separate them from the trash. As a city we throw 24,000 pound trash every year. Since we have a population 8,000 people that's roughly 3 pounds lbs. for each person every year, now that is a green city. Still, the question remains, what do we do with the trash? That is simple A: We can recycle or B: We burn it into biofuel or C: compost. The question remains as to how we collect recycle from the trash. Well, we chose Big Bertha a machine that rely on the wind and magnetic power from the earth. First we use a rotating, fast moving magnetic wheel moving about 60 mph. The metal is discharged to be sent on a conveyor belt to be sent construction of a building. The plastic and paper are blasted with a jet of warm air. Then the magic happens, they sort themselves by density value. So all we did is that we have finished recycling now how do keep people safe? Let us find out. We need to keep our workers safe is that we made Nano-pills. These little guys

First, I would like to say that much of the information provided by Rogers was surprisingly new to me. I like to think of myself as being pretty knowledgeable about waste/recycling. In the past I have watched documentaries on e-waste and clothing recycling plants overseas. In my high school chemistry class during sophomore year I remember being taught by two of my classmates during their presentation on recycling about the meanings of the numbers printed on plastics and how glass, plastic, and metals were re-purposed into new objects. Before I left home, my mom was super into recycling and made sure my sister and I put what could be recycled into the proper bin and in order to keep the items out the landfills as long as possible. I know and practice the phrase “reduce, reuse, and recycle”. I know that the Great Pacific garbage patch exists. In reading this, I was surprised to find that the history and current state of the garbage industry is so horrifying and entertaining, and also that there was so much information which was new to me. I learned a ton of useful information. I definitely plan to recycle this information and share it others.

Today, many of us might know what recycling is and how good it is for the environment. It helps to protect our world and has a positive impact in our way of leaving. Pollution is one of the most concerning problems in our society because of the huge amount of waste produced every day. Recycling is a simple and cheap solution with an enormous impact in the reduction of pollution, using as an example the incineration of materials such as aluminum that releases toxic gases into to the atmosphere. “The recycling of aluminum saves over 95% of the energy needed to produce aluminum from bauxite ore and results in substantially less pollution of air and water” (Hill, 1977). Not incinerating every single

One way the United States can improve on its sustainability is by using their trash as a source of energy. Sweden’s waste to energy program generates about twenty percent of the country’s district heating. This also generates electricity for a quarter million homes. The incineration process is very efficient at creating heat and energy (Smith 1). In 2012 four percent of Swedish garbage is put into landfills, in 2013 only one percent of Sweden’s trash is put into landfills, half of the waste is recycling and forty-nine percent is burned in waste to energy plants (Jones 1). Power plants have more than doubled the amount of energy produced since 1985 (Schonning 2). It cost $286,000,000 to buy a waste to energy plant and the revenue is $36,000,000 to $70,000,000; the plant will pay itself back in 10 years (Schonning 3). Sweden also recently imported 800,000 tons of trash annually from other countries (Jones 1). They are also being paid for taking the trash and making energy from the trash it is an extremely efficient system.

Resources are being used up at an incredible rate, which means that there might be nothing left for the future generation. To reverse this flow, almost every country has decided to prioritize on recycling, which basically means turning used products into other usable tools or materials. However, it is usually different from one country to another, such as between Vietnam and Australia. This essay will consider the similarities and differences between the two, focusing on the recycling of plastic bags, scrap metals, and recycling infrastructures.