There is no question that the United States is a wasteful society with a trash problem.
In general, one of the most daunting issues facing the world, today, is the rising waste problem, which impairs public health, pollutes the environment and essentially drowns poor, developing countries in toxicity. Experts have asked themselves what the best way to handle our trash is. For example, some claim that landfills are the way to go while others argue that trash burning is the better alternative. Although there are countless other alternatives for garbage disposal, landfills and garbage incineration, specifically, both have their drawbacks. Meanwhile, implementing a zero-waste policy, one where people are encouraged to not produce any waste, would get rid of the need for either of these processes altogether. Some argue that a zero-waste policy is a goal that can never be fully achieved because there is always going to be some waste. However undeniably true that might be, having that sort of goal is tremendously important because it opens the door for opportunities and change. According to the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA),
“Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them.”
In other words, zero waste does not mean people are expected to stop producing waste, they are simply encouraged to think twice before
Waste is a world-wide problem, with food waste being the main contender. In the United
Section 4 – Understand how to keep waste to a minimum in a business environment
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
“Waste” is a short essay in which Wendell Berry critically analyzes the growing epidemic of trash that is polluting the nation’s land, waterways, and the air. Berry explains to the readers how the remnants of floods and litter that leave farmlands scattered with trash, makes more work for the farmers who have to rid their land of the trash before they can use it. Along with the floods, roads and highways also lead to a barrage of garbage from people who are too lazy or ignorant to take proper care of their garbage, which Berry claims leads to “. . . a constant precipitation of cans, bottles, the plastic-ware containers of fast food joints, soiled plastic diapers, and sometimes whole bags of garbage,” (Waste 1) along the edges of their fields. The garbage of the country continues to be a burden for everyone, whether it impacts them directly or not. Although it would be impossible to eliminate garbage completely from the country, the waste could be greatly reduced. Most of today’s trash is a consequence of the laziness of American society.
A teacher once told me, “One mans trash is another mans treasure, what he doesn’t appreciate the next man will.” Until recently analyzing this statement I always pondered about it as a metaphor using the thoughts, and ideas of people, but after reading Garbology I have come up with a literal process of reusing trash. On average Americans wastes 220 million tons of waste generated each year in the United States which ends up in one of the over 3,500 landfills. According to Edward Humes, the author of Garbology, “Garbage has become one the most accurate measures of prosperity in the twenty-first-century America and the world,” which proves that trash is a means to improving the success rate of Americans. This reminds me of the words of Confucius who stated, “When a goal cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goal, adjust the action step” because with the knowledge from garbology we can
It is all of our duty to eliminate waste. From the farmers to the consumers. I believe we should find more ways to help eliminate how much we waste. Somehow we need to make the nation and world conscious of the decisions they're making and how it impacts Earth. Most people probably don’t realize how they’re contributing to our waste problem when they throw out the leftovers from last
When reducing waste materials, businesses could sometimes have issues with that because the businesses big ideas may require a lot of materials and they may not use it all but if the material is not provided then the idea would not be fulfilled. The impact of the businesses reducing waste in the future it would be a cycle we will be use to and the nations would be echo friendly towards the earth.
If you are unsure as to why the US should have mandatory recycling, just look to a future without it. This future would be at the very least, dreary and doomed. Garbage in the gutters, spills on the streets, and filth on the freeways. There would probably be little to no life other than humans and even then, Humanity’s days would be numbered. Do you really want to live in a world without a solid amount of plants and animals to provide air and food for us? Each human ends up making about 4 lbs of trash each day. There’s around 7 billion people on Earth; if everyone puts their waste in the garbage, they would create 31 BILLION pounds of waste in landfills across the globe every single day (“What if everyone stopped recycling). That is an insane number! We can’t let that amount of trash exist if we wish to have any sort of positive future.
If I was governing a city I would put waste management in my top 10 priorities, so my city wouldn’t have to worry about pollution and trash all over the place. My city would be just perfect. We would have trash day everyday. Everyone would have a job and be very happy. We would have a new system of getting rid of trash. My city would very clean and would be flourishing. Our city would be the cleanest in the world and everyone who visit it will very impressed.
Americans may be a wasteful people but with discipline and self-control the war against waste can be won. Keep aware about waste and you
America currently has a growing population of over 300 million people. Every day the average American produced 4.4 pounds of garbage. As a nation Americans produced over 200 million tons of waste in 2013. Only 34.4 percent of that waste was recovered. Over 65 percent of that garbage is left to rot and pollute the environment. Many other countries face the same epidemic. There are many ways Americans can reduce pollution and keep our planet cleaner, one for those ways for instance is recycling. Recycling defined is to treat or process used or waste materials, to make suitable for reuse. The process starts by knowing what to recycle and how. Understanding the effects and benefits of reprocessing can persuade people to make
In 2012, Americans generated about 251 million tons of trash and recycled and composted almost 87 million tons of this material (“Municipal Solid Waste”). There are many ways to end our environmental crisis, such as reducing our amount of trash, recycling items, and reusing other items.
We, humans, are producing waste every day, polluting and destroying our planet. To save the world, many people believe recycling is the obvious solution. It is the process of converting certain waste into a reusable material. Therefore, the recycle motto is “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle”. However, have you ever wondered why the word recycle is placed at the end? Well, it’s because it is not the only way to reduce waste and save the world from global warming. Recycling may have many advantages, but its disadvantages’ list is not a short one either. Recycling may look very simple and easy method, but when there is a need for a new unit of waste recycling, it takes up a lot of space. Not to mention the amount of money the building costs along with paying the staffs, buying new utility vehicles, upgrading the recycling unit and different types of chemical disposals. It is not only expensive but also, unhygienic, unsafe and unsightly with piles of waste materials on every location. These wastes spread infectious diseases putting human health at risk. Aside from recycling
My main concern about waste disposal is toward poverty. In every society, for it to work effectively the waste disposal has to be handled properly. The lack of proper waste disposal can contribute for the underdevelopment of the community. For instance, in poorer community that does not have resources to dispose of the trash properly create a series of problems. For example, when there are a lot of trashes in a community, it will prevent investors to invest in a community, the housing market, schools and stores will decline, in consequence the houses will loose its value. This will create a ripple effect because people will start immigrating toward a better place where it is much cleaner. Families will try to move to a better place where their kids can have a better future. I ask myself who wants to live in a dirty environment? I hope nobody. That’s why I believe that the government should help the poorest communities about the ways to handle waste disposal, and better educate them about recycling.
Waste management applies to a variety of resources, from food to energy to water. Nature itself produces no waste,