Garbage is the stuff we don't need anymore, the junk we think is useless. It's the rejects we don't want to deal with, and the cast-offs from the way we live. It comes from our homes, businesses, government agencies, and institutions like schools and hospitals. Garbage is also known as "municipal solid waste.” On average, Americans create 210 million tons of municipal solid waste each year. The components that our trash consists of would include: paper and textiles which make up 42% of our garbage; metal, plastic, and glass which make up 23% of our garbage; yard waste which make up 18% of our garbage; and food waste which makes up 7% of our garbage. We bury most of our garbage in landfills where it may stay forever. We burn some trash, but burning can pollute the air if not properly controlled, and it still leaves ash to bury. We can recycle many things, but even these processes require energy, and create waste and pollution. There is no way to get rid of all our garbage. The best solution is to reduce, reuse, and recycle to manage what is left. In the U.S., we burn about 17% of garbage in combustors and burning can reduce the volume of garbage by 60% to 90%. However, this method produces ash and creates harmful gases and particles that must be filtered out of the air which would be detrimental to both the environment and the economy. Despite our current situation, many people don’t tend to reduce, reuse, and recycle. In fact, we recycle only half of our aluminum, 38% of all paper, 20% of our glass, and only 5% of all plastic. Although recycling still consumes energy and natural resources as well as create pollution, recycling helps us use materials over and over again. However, some of those materials lose their desirable characteristics and eventually must be discarded after recycling. Thus, we can not always rely on recycling and must resort to a different and better method towards out “dirty” problem. Although recycling is recommended, I am surprised at how lazy people are towards recycling. For example, even though we have recycling bins around the school, there are still plastics in the regular trash bins. Therefore, I am not surprised that recycling is not advertised but rather at how humanity is not taking a step towards change and helping the planet we live in because one day we will all be living in a dump due to the accumulated landfills we refuse to recycle.
