It's obvious that the country's landfills must be upgraded in order to protect the environment from leachates (liquid, mostly water, that seeps out of landfills or composting material) leaking into our rainwater or groundwater.Smart Storage is a company specializing in managing landfill waste, and has designed a new kind of landfill that will optimize decomposition of waste and stabilize waste so that it is non-toxic and could even be mined for metals, glass, and soil. However, reducing what goes into the landfills in the first place is the best way to solve our landfill problems (the basic design is shown in the corner). The United States Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA) considers "source reduction" (that is, changing the design, manufacture, or use of a product to reduce the amount and toxicity of what gets thrown away) as the preferred method of dealing with the landfill problem, followed by recycling (which diverts items away from the waste stream so that the items can be resold as a new product). Source reduction and recycling helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduces pollutants, saves energy, conserves resources, and reduces the need for new landfills and combusters. The EPA reports that in the year 2005, Americans diverted more that 79 million tons of waste from the waste stream, up from just 15 million tons in 1980. However, more than half of all waste is still being dumped into landfills (54% in the same year, according to the EPA). If anything, the government should keep pushing for people to reuse and recycle. The money spent teaching the public now will be nothing compared to the money used to keep building more and more landfills (this article shows the rising cost of landfills frustrating the citizens of Northampton County).
Force companies to change their materials. Toxic materials have a huge impact on the environment, and we shouldn't tolerate big companies adding dangerous materials to our products. As technology quickly advances, electronics like cell phones end up in landfills very quickly (approximately 130 million cell phones a year), and in those phones is a combination of toxic material, like arsenic, brominated compounds, and lead. These materials are harmful to humans, and can cause nervous system damage, reproductive and developmental problems, and cancer. Is this health hazard something we want around us? Read on, if you dare, at the Grinning Planet. If you want to get rid of your old phone safely, consider contacting the Call2Recycle program, a non-profit organization that helps people recycle their phones safely. These are all ways to help protect our environment from the wastes that we produce.
4 comments:
Reading this, I have to wonder, who is more responsible for solid waste: the consumer or the producer? Both have some control over the amount of waste produced, what exactly that waste is, and where that waste goes, but when push comes to shove, who's job is it to 'clean up' the waste. In this capitalistic society, where every consumer can vote with the ballot and the buck, I'd say the consumer. While forcing industrial giants to clean up their act is much easier then forcing consumers, to clean up theirs, the responsibility for the waste lies with the people, and therefore should be cleaned up by the people.
That's a really interesting thought, Richard. It's almost as if the government is taking full responsibility for something that we as consumers and producers can eliminate earlier on. I think producers should make it easier for consumers to dispose of whatever they have to dispose...this might even make the product more attractive for eco-friendly customers.
Could solid waste be one of the new biggest markets for venture capitalist? Currently, I know that in Hawaii, we sell our trash to Idaho where they burn the trash for their own energy purposes. Solid waste is clearly a lucrative industry, and I would think that green entrepreneurs would attempt to tap into this seemingly new market. I think that many people could do well financially by supporting this type of trade, and at the same time, perhaps do good for the environment by not placing the solid waste in land fills. Think about it.
A couple weeks ago while watching the news I learned of something innovative they are doing with waste. On Hawaii, there is one waste plant where they are taking out the toxic components of waste, drying the rest up and turning it into usable compost for plants. Although this sounds like one of the better solutions for what to do with waste, it does seem like it contributes to carbon emission problems as well. Now I realize how hard it is to avoid that, you must put in energy adding to the destruction of our planet to do something good.
-kelly
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