Properly managed, landfills accept MSW and other materials from haulers for a fee, layering it in an excavated hole in the ground, covering with soil, and leaving the waste to decompose. The uncaptured methane, for one, is a major contributor to climate change , 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. In fact, numbers reflect that MSW landfills are the third-largest source Aside from greenhouse gases, the landfill-caused environmental crisis runs deeper.
Waste management has an inelegant history —like how 15th-century Paris was plagued with stinking piles of garbage directly outside its city walls. Our practice of locking our waste far away from people, deep in the earth seems like the most sanitary option available. However, our waste today is different; our trash heaps can be toxic to humans. Source: EPA. And 21st-century waste can be disastrous for the environment. In a landfill, however, food, grass clippings, and other organic material are densely packed and thus decompose with the absence of oxygen anaerobically.
For that reason, waste—both organic and inorganic—breaks down significantly slower in landfills than it would in nature. Through its oxygen-deprived breakdown, organic material emits methane as a byproduct, making landfills volatile and gassy. These toxins can seep into soil and groundwater aquifers and affect local ecosystems, animal-life, and our drinking water.
Electronic waste , for example, contains various types of dangerous chemicals, including lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury, and brominated flame retardants. In , we sent 2. These fluorinated, harmful chemicals are used in a wide variety of products like Teflon frying pans, dental floss, and food packaging— and they never break down in the environment, ever. And volume has created a crisis of its own.
The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,, homes for 20 years. Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U. Americans use 85,, tons of paper a year; about pounds per person. The average household throws away 13, separate pieces of paper each year.
Most is packaging and junk mail. In , U. Each ton pounds of recycled paper can save 17 trees, gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, kilowatts of energy, and gallons of water. The 17 trees saved above can absorb a total of pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year.
We may be going digital at work — sending e-mails instead of letters and quick group notifications in place of paper memos — but at home, we go through toilet paper, paper towels, paper plates, paper napkins, newspaper, wrapping paper, and other paper products at an alarming rate.
When you throw toilet paper or paper towels in the trash, this waste ends up in the landfill, but what about the toilet paper you flush? However, aside from using fewer sheets, Americans could decrease our demand for toilet paper if we followed the example of Europeans and used bidets. When everyone recycles, it creates the opportunity to buy recycled paper products.
However, it actually takes more water than you might think to make paper. By replacing one ton of paper plates and napkins with reusable dishes or cloth napkins, you save 7, gallons of water, not to mention 17 trees and gallons of oil.
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