Community Problem Report: Garbage Affecting the Environment

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301
October 24, 2014
Cesar Chavez















Abstract
Every day, the people of the United States churn out more than 432,000 tons of garbage. Many
citizens care less where all the trash is going and how is affecting the environment. Americas
biggest misconception was that the limits on dumping were endless, a nave idea that encouraged
historys biggest throwaway society. The garbage problem worsens because most materials
bought are used once and tossed, with little regard for their lasting potential. The
unconsciousness of recycling has lead the human race to a situation in which their own health is
been threatened. The primary solution to the worlds mounting garbage problem is source
reduction. Its definition is simple the less we create the less we have to throw away.
Garbage Affecting the Environment
The disposal of garbage has an important role in the threatening of human health worldwide and
affecting the environment. The importance of recycling has been left unconscious for many
people, for it is not a big deal to throw the garbage in a trash can. Well the problem of the
disposal of garbage not only lies on people not throwing their trash in a trash can or somewhere
labeled trash, the problem lies on people not recycling and reusing as many products as possible.
The practice of collection and disposal of garbage has a long history. It is recorded that the first
organized dump was set up outside of Athens in 500 B.C. A much sophisticated garbage
disposal practice than that of the Parisians, who in the fourteenth century were still tossing their
trash out the window. By the late 1800s New York scavengers were paid to trim the garbage
of materials they could sell off and in the mid-1890s the citys cleaning commissioner, George
A. Waring, tried to recapture some of this resources for the city to help defray the cost of waste
disposal.
By the turn of the century garbage was already threatening human health worldwide. The use of
giant refuse incinerators were build and modern recycling was born. In 1903 workers picked
useful materials from New Yorks garbage as it passed by conveyor belts. The burning of trash


started to be used to produce electricity in 1913. During World War II the scarcity of raw
materials gave recycling a big boost, but when the international trade resumed after the war
recycling efforts fell off. Recycling efforts were scattered and confirmed mostly to back-to
earthers and hippies.
Every year the United States produces 160 million tons of garbage. This is a crude figure and
doesnt include millions more dumped illegally. The total garbage is composed of 34 percent of
containers and packaging, 26
percent is items designed to be
thrown out, 18 percent is mown
grass and raked leaves, and up to
13 percent is food. In just one year
America buries enough metals to
build two million automobiles,
enough wood to construct one
million homes, enough paper to
publish all the daily newspapers in
the country, enough aluminum to manufacture 500,000 trailer homes or rebuild the entire
American air fleet 71 times. The total pile fills 11 million garbage trucks each year. Babysitting
this trash costs 20 billion dollars a year.
In an average every individual in the United States create 3.5 pounds of waste each day; by
comparison the typical West German throws out 2.5 pounds, the average Japanese 2.2 pounds.
Despite those numbers 42 percent of all Americans say they or other family members regularly
recycle. Only 15 percent said recycling was required in their community. Just 41 percent
suggested that waste disposal was a source of great concern.




Solutions
The primarily solution for the worlds disposal of garbage problem is source reduction. The
key is to minimize the materials we create, the less we create the less we have to throw away.
For example a community might ban the use of polystyrene (as did Suffolk County, New York,
and Berkeley, California), or taxes might be levied on excess packaging or frequently purchased
disposable products, which has been proposed in a handful of state legislatures and city councils.
Another vital practice to improve the disposal of garbage is the practice of reusing as many
products as possible. Many products can be reused, products as; bags, boxes and anything else
that may have a life other that in the dump. The practice of recycling is very important as well,
recycling must be emphasized at home, work, and in every neighborhood. It is no longer a chore
for hippies only. Various urban
governments are designing new
systems for separating the
variety of. Mandatory recycling
laws are being passed in
communities worldwide. Solid
waste management is finally in
a state of transition. But the
success of recycling do not lie
only on the government and its
laws it is a devour of
willingness of public officials to create new, long term programs in the face of current pressures
to build incinerators.





Conclusion
The challenge of garbage lies on the approach of humans to the world, the issue is controversial
and there are many ways in which humans deteriorate the environment every time more and
more. But to what extend will society keep covering their eyes upon reality and think everything
is going to be the same even if we keep committing the same mistakes. The landfills are not
infinite, the world is running out of room for garbage and there will always be another landfill
cannot be the words society should live by. The time for the shift from throwaway society to
conserving society has arrived.















References
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Human Development. Cambridge University Press
Steger, Will; Bowermaster, Jon (1990, May) Saving the Earth, A Citizens Guide To
Environmental Action. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Ford, James D.; Berrang-Ford, Lea (2011, June 27) Climate Change Adaptation in Developed
Nations. Springer
Baldwin, Lauren (2014) Sustainability, General Services, the City of El Paso Texas. Retrieved
from: http://home.elpasotexas.gov/general-services/sustainability/index.php
Rimmer, Matthew (2011, November 1) Intellectual Property and Climate Change: Inventing
Clean Technologies. Edward Elgar Publishing.