Savannah's Against the Wall: Recycling and Landfills

In order for environmental change to happen society needs to see the significance of trash. To make sense of that recall a time were you forgot to take the trash out and days later were reminded by the rotten stench? Now multiply the stench of that 1 bag 2 million times. To help you further understand let’s put this in mathematical terms. Let’s say on average 1 garbage bag weighs 20Lbs. that equates to 1bag=20lbs x 2,000,000 = 40 million putrid bags. This equation has opened my eyes. Rogers’s argument that Landfills should be in public places is a good one. Society is sheltered from Landfills: so they are out of sight therefore out of mind. If we can’t see the pollution we can’t change our carbon foot print.

The complex issues surrounding the Agriculture Street Landfill are part of a much larger story about environmental justice and public housing that, while an entrenched part of the city’s history, came to the forefront post-Katrina. According to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., “a powerfully discriminatory tendency in planning is for environmentally vulnerable low-income neighborhoods to be deemed disposable, whereas equally vulnerable high-income neighborhoods are deemed indispensable because they are more valuable (Morse 2008).” Nowhere has this been more evident than in these poor, black New Orleans neighborhoods, historically dominated by public housing.

In Mantua Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, privately owned land once stood as one of the most hazardous waste sites in the United States. This site known as the Helen Kramer Landfill included 66-acres of waste, 11 acres of unfavorably conditioned vegetation, and no onsite residents. Prior to the early 1960’s, Helen Keller landfill was a sand and gravel excavation operation, but soon began to incorporate the disposal of waste material for about a decade. After the landfill received numerous inspections and notices between 1971 and 1977, the owner Helen Kramer was informed to cease operation of the landfill. As New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reports indicated and area residents stated, “sporadic chemical

16) Dale Anderson and C Langstan knowingly made, used and caused to be made, a false record and statements to get a false or fraudulent claim for approval of the Landfill permit. [Government," 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(2)]. The Landfill is not 1000 feet from perennial ponds and lakes as required by rule. Other Defendants supported this fraud. It also appears the Defendant is disposing overburden in wetlands in violation of CWA.

I am asking that this issue is regarded as great importance and given top priority on the agenda in the upcoming City Council meeting. As public officers, Svara (2015) we have a duty to convey by virtue, moral excellence, fairness, and justice and a duty to the public interest. At the same time, I have the responsibility of advising council and always seeking the greatest good. By virtue of my position, I will never advice a member to take a positon that would bring disgrace on their selves or our City, by an act of dishonesty or cowardice. My goal, Svara (2015), is to “revere and obey the City’s laws, while keeping in mind to fight for the ideals and sacred things of the City both alone and with many.” I feel this can be done with the right method in place to clarify our position as a City and to educate the neighboring residents who at this time, will not disregard having an inert landfill near them.

This is a crucial topic concerning the town of Arkansas City. For example, all waste mainly go to the Ark City landfill which is where all of the city trash is disposed along with at the current rate of waste the landfill has a useful life of fifty years (Broce). Through Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, the trash people, throw away can be reduced. Roughly about half of the garbage that people throw away in their trash cans can be recycling. Then to minimize waste even more in the future a town composed heap can be created in the near future from the food thrown away. Besides, the future of the city's recycling can grow much more. According to Broce, he hopes that someday in the future there will be voluntary curbside recycling. Which is very much similar to modern day trash pickup (Broce). It is always good to have a plan for the future. The idea of curbside recycling in the future is not only a great idea but also a more helpful idea for the people recycling. The more people that start recycling, the sooner this plan will be put into effect. As stated before the three R's are very important in Arkansas City and to the public works director Mr. Broce not to mention that with more time, there will be significant improvements in people's everyday environments like

We would like to make another expansion with our landfill, not to improve the lifespan, but to improve the amount waste that we would be able to collect. IESI landfill, as stated before, is already taking in the majority of the waste, so why add to that? Let us expand and be able to increase a maximum total tonnage a day to help the county out. If we expand then there would be two major sites for waste to be disposed in instead of mainly one. Along with that, it would become more regulated and controlled because the bulk of it is not sent to just one site, it would be distributed. I think that by splitting the waste between the two of us, the community would win in the end since no one area is accumulating the bulk of the waste.

Landfills are a growing problem yet statistics claim that landfills have gone down from 8,000 landfills in the 80’s to 3,000 landfills today. While this is true, it is misleading as it failed to mention that as the years have passed, many have switched from small, local landfills to mega-landfills. Facts like these often understate the issue as landfills are a vague topic for most, needing more public attention and discussion. Landfills will take 450 years at minimum to degrade and when decomposed, turns into many toxic products. It takes up so much space while simultaneously ruining the soil for future farming use. This is important for the ever growing population where space is getting more valuable and early precautions will definitely help.

Have you ever been in the mountains and seen a pile of trash on the side of the road? What about all of the trash on the side of highways and roads. There are ways to prevent and stop all of the illegal dumping that is going on around the world. If there was more landfills and they were cheaper than what they are then people would want to go there instead of dumping their trash on the side of the road. If there was a cheaper dump then people would go there and that is why we need to reduce the price of dumps!

Having a idea GatesburgGoGreen Initiative to reduce as much as 90% of landfill waste isn't a unachievable goal at all. Growing up I have heard about all the changes in society and growth of population in the U.S. Not being able to stare at one's trash or even smell it in the neighborhood should be a motive! Enhancing how we recyle, where, and being creative with our way shouldn't be a issue.

The process of waste management has change significantly over the last couple of years. For instance, in the early 1990’s, there were facilities caleed piggeries, that were pigs were fed fresh and cook garbage in which experts estimated that seventy-five pigs were able to consume about one ton of refuse per day. This being a highly effective and efficient, but clearly a public health issues which sent concern opinions throughout the communities. By the 1910, throughout the nations majority of the people in society had some form of solid waste collection going on in their area. This type of collection of waste was conducted by men with horse drawn wagons or carts and later on the inventions of vehicles (automobiles) the garbage truck was

As a result, local communities have come together to initiate recycling efforts; the percolation of their enthusiasm has led to the widespread acceptance and even encouragement of recycling at both the state and federal levels. With recovered materials demanding higher market prices and curbside collection and commercial recovery on the rise, it is not unrealistic for Americans to expect to see nationwide recycling rates of thirty-five to fifty percent by the turn of

Imagine walking down a forest path, feeling the crisp fall breeze, hearing the birds chirping, breathing in the fresh air. The earth's environment is wonderful and as stewards of this plant, it is every human's job to protect and even enhance its beauty. Dumping incinerated garbage into a hole in the Earth is not exactly being a good steward. However, science has developed the technology of recycling, and people should use this blessing as readily as possible. In other words, everyone should recycle, and if they won't do it on their own, recycling should become a requirement. Recycling should be mandatory because it helps minimize pollution, conserve energy, preserve natural resources, and create jobs.

Recycling is an essential part of reducing the amount of waste filling up landfills. Recycling materials cannot only reduce waste but pollution as well. Unfortunately the typical recycling programs such as curbside pick-up and recycling centers require significant commitment from the public to be successful which generally leads to low participation. However there may be a solution to the problem. The pollution prevention and reduction program suggests the use of materials recovery facilities. Materials recovery facilities sort out recyclable materials from other waste products such as compostable items. By sorting out the waste at one central location more items get recycled and waste is reduced without public participation. A recent article by Wang (2010) suggests, “The installation of materials recovery facilities (MRFs) can be an alternative solution to the problem of low participation of voluntary household and curbside recycling in fast-growing cities.” Materials recovery facilities can be a viable solution for waste management problems where public participation is an obstacle. This solution also provides less societal impact because lifestyle change is not as critical.

American citizens throw away millions of tons of garbage each year, and this trash has to go somewhere. While there are projects underway to clean and reuse this refuse most of it gets dumped into huge landfills. These landfills are disgusting festering blisters on our country's landscape. But people continue to consume and throw away more and more in the name of convenience. As they see it, when things get old, throw it away and get a new one. They blame the government for the trash problem, but the truth blame should be placed on themselves.