SOLVING OUR NATION’S SOLID WASTE PROBLEM
There is a growing public awareness of our nation’s waste problem. The big question now is, “What do
we do with all of our garbage?” We are often “throw-away” people, carelessly buying and disposing of
numerous products each day. While these products may have a short life in terms of meeting our needs,
they usually have a very long life in the landfills.
Consider the contents of a landfill: partially-eaten bananas, still in their peels; empty cans of paint,
turpentine, and oil; yard clippings; glass; junk mail; medicine vials and needles; cigarette butts; plastic;
torn and worn-out clothing; newspapers; soiled diapers; fast-food containers; and melon seeds and
rinds.
The concern about how much goes into our landfills raises an even greater concern. The landfills are
filling up quickly, and they must be replaced with new ones. Few people, however, are willing to
designate space for a landfill in their own neighborhood.
REDUCE WASTE
To help reduce waste, consumers can change the kinds of products they use. They can avoid purchasing
products that contain unnecessary and wasteful packaging materials and products that are disposable
and are not intended for repeated use.
CONVERT WASTE
To convert waste, you must recycle products and use them again. If you’re not recycling, you’re
throwing away more than just your trash. It is no longer a question of why we need to reduce waste and
preserve our environment—the question is “How?”
RECYCLE IN BUSINESS
Recycling is smart business. Along with consumers, businesses are adopting the three R’s of
environmental consciousness: reduce, reuse, and recycle. For example, general paper use in the office
has increased in recent years, and it is expected to grow by four percent a year. Because of this growing
demand for paper, businesses are confronted with both economic and environmental concerns. They
are devoting their attention to the volume of paper used and to the purchase of recycled paper.
RECYCLE ALUMINUM
Aluminum cans are entirely recyclable. The process used to recycle cans is closed-loop recycling. Closedloop recycling is recycling in the truest sense. The cans are recycled into new cans over and over again.
It takes considerably less energy to make cans from recycled aluminum than it does to originally produce
the cans from ore. Because it takes less energy, the cost to produce is significantly lower; thus, it is
advantageous for manufacturers to use recycled aluminum.
If you recycle plastics, glass, and aluminum for cash, you already know that aluminum brings you more
cash. Aluminum pays a much higher price than plastic or glass, and it is the most lucrative material to
recycle.
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RECYCLE PLASTICS
Plastics are made from petroleum. The manufacture of the petroleum products causes pollution, and
the pollution kills fish and other wildlife. By recycling the many varieties of plastics used in packaging,
the landfill problems can be eased and the pollution generated through the manufacturing process can
be reduced.
Collecting plastics for recycling is not an easy task. Although plastic containers do not weigh much, they
take up a great deal of space.
For much of the processing of recycled plastics, it is important that different types of plastics do not get
mixed. Therefore, it is necessary to sort the plastic containers before the plastic is processed.
Consumers can help to reduce the costs of collection by washing and squashing the containers and by
recycling only the types of plastics that can be used.