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Julia Needham
Mrs. Willey
AP Environmental Science
7 June 2013
An Easy Solution for Waste
My awareness of all of the waste that we throw away first came to be during my
fifth grade “Sound to Sea” trip. After eating each meal, we would dump all of the extra
food or drink that we did not consume into a pitcher. Eventually, each table was able to
get their waste down to almost zero. Actually seeing what we were throwing away,
compounded into one place, is what raised the awareness that we were wasting so much
food and just tossing it out. My group, the Compost Crusaders, aims to use the waste that
we throw away and compost it so that we can return it into the earth in an
environmentally-friendly way.
The problem of waste management first arose 10,000 years ago during the
Agricultural Revolution when nomads began to settle down (Niemczewski). Because
people stayed in one place, waste built up in smaller areas. One of the first methods of
waste disposal came from the Athenians who required their citizens to dump their waste
at least a mile away (EPA). In colonial America, waste was mostly unregulated and
“garbage was burned or simply dumped into the streets, alleys, and waterways; swine
freely roamed the streets (Melosi).” Americans began to look for more efficient ways to
dispose of waste in the early 1900s, but unsanitary landfills were still primarily used
(Roberts). In 1965, the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) was created. The SWDA set
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up a national plan to manage waste and provided financial and technical resources for
local and state governments (Hickman). Then, in 1967, the United States passed the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act which regulates solid and hazardous wastes
(Rauch).
The current situation of waste disposal is much different than it was 300 years
ago. Although solid waste disposal is much more sanitary and safe, millions of tons of
waste are created by Americans every year. In 2010, that number was 250 million tons
(EPA). The EPA also says that, “Food scraps (30,990 tons) were 12.7% of waste
generated 2008, while yard trimmings were 13.2%,” but that, “Only 2.5% of all waste
food was composted in 2008 – the rest went to landfill or incinerators.” It also estimates
that 42% of United States greenhouse emissions could be reduced through recycling and
composting.
In order to achieve this reduction in greenhouse gases, the action we took was to
construct our own compost bin to deposit waste into. First we poked holes into a large
trash bin to allow air to circulate. Then, we dug a shallow hole in Elizabeth’s backyard to
put our compost bin into. Compost bins tend to attract insects and rodents so we placed
the bin a good distance from the house. An important part of composting is to create a
good base, so for the first layer we added in old grass clippings. After that, many kinds of
waste can be added to the compost bin, even things like paper napkins, wine corks, and
dryer lint. The outcome was that Elizabeth’s household was able to reduce their trash
output by 32%!
Overall, the project went really well. The compost bin was easy enough to
construct, and the only difficult part will have to turn the compost every so often to aerate
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it. The worst part of the process was having to add in the grass clippings because there
were lots of ants and it was difficult to rake the clippings from the wheelbarrow to the
bin. The planning went very well and both of my group members were very easy to work
with and reliable. Everyone did their fair share of the project, and we all worked together
to construct our compost bin. I think our idea of making a compost bin was a good one
because it is an easy way to reduce the amount of waste that we throw away. Plus,
anyone can do it! Even if someone lives in an apartment where they do not have access to
a backyard like we did, they could make a communal compost bin in which everyone in
the apartment complex could participate.
Something that we could have done differently would be to place the bin in a
different spot in the backyard. It was smart that we put it away from the house, but we
should not have put it into the woods. Putting it out in the open would decrease the
amount of pests because they tend to live in the woods, and it would also allow more
sunlight to reach the compost, which would in turn allow the decomposition to occur
more quickly. Something else that we could have done was to maybe use a different type
of bin instead of the trash bin. The trash bin, although it had holes, still had a lot of closed
space around the compost, reducing aeration and sunlight exposure. Something more
open like a chicken-wire bin might be a better material to use. But for the time and
materials that we had, I think we did a good job.
I would love to continue this process out of school. My mom and I used to have a
small compost bin but we eventually stopped using it. This project could be the perfect
kick-start to making our own functional compost bin again. Because the project also
required me to do some research on composting, I found out a lot of things that I did not
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know before, especially all of things that you can compost, and not just organic waste!
Everything from used matches to pet fur can be added into the compost bin. The Compost
Crusaders has finished this school project, but we will continue on composting.
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Works Cited
Hickman, H. Lanier, Jr., "A Brief History of Solid Waste Management in the US, 1950 2000, Part 5a: Building an Infrastructure."
Melosi, Martin V., The Sanitary City, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press,
2000, 18,19.
Niemczewski, Christopher, "The History of Solid Waste Management," Chap. 2 in The
Organization and Efficiency of Solid Waste Collection, New York: The Trustees
of Columbia University, 1977.
Rauch, Barbara, "Infamis Aer, Dragons and Fiery Rivers: Historical Background of
America's Environmental Laws," The Oklahoma Bar Journal, 76, no. 24
(September 3, 2005).
Roberts, Jon. "A Brief History of Waste Regulation in the United States and Oklahoma."
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. State of Oklahoma, 2011. Web.
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Milestones in Garbage: A historical
timeline of municipal solid waste management," February 22, 2006,
<http://www.epa.gov/msw/timeline_alt.htm> (February 28, 2007).
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling,
and Disposal in the United States" N.p., Dec. 2011.