Marco Cannon Signature Assignment GEOG 1700

Post-Consumer Waste - Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE!

As our world population surges past the 7 billion mark1, consideration must be given for the amount of
waste that is created by that many people every day. In the United States alone, Americans created 251
million tons of waste in 20122. Everything from household items to product packaging to grass clippings
to paper is discarded as Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)3, or what we call garbage. Currently, more than
half of our garbage, trash, rubbish, refuse, (or whatever word you prefer to use to describe the items
we throw away), winds up at a Municipal Solid Waste Landfill (MSWLF)4, often affectionately referred
to as the dump.

According to the Environmental Protection

Agency, there are 1,9085 active landfills in the
United States, which is a huge improvement
from the over 7,600 that were in operation
back in the 1980s; however, the active landfills
today are much larger than those of years
past, so this substantial decrease is illusory and
misleading.

www.glbrain.com

But landfills are not our only means to dispose of the things we no longer need. Efforts to combat the
ever-growing waste started decades ago, with large-scale recycling endeavors getting underway in the
United States during the 1970s6, with the city of Berkeley, California becoming one of the first to provide
their residents with curbside recycling service7. It is quite gratifying to report that when I was a child
during the 1980s, my family began a recycling program of our own separating the different cardboard,
metal, and glass materials into their own separate bins and depositing at a recycling center. This was a
point of pride for my parents to instill in the minds of their young children that many things can be
salvaged and turned into something else of use; although, the majority of our neighbors labeled us
hippies.
Because our world population continues to grow at break-neck speed and because people continue to
create massive amounts of MSW, waste management is an integral and vitally important facet of
protecting our environment and the health and well-being of all life on Earth. Recycling is an essential
tool to decrease the literal tons of waste we produce; and yet, the United States still dumps over 50% of
our MSW into landfills8.

Marco Cannon Signature Assignment GEOG 1700

Whether it can be blamed on an absence of knowledge or simple laziness, there is an obvious disparity
and lack of concern for how we all are damaging the environment by inadequately disposing of our
post-consumer waste. Failure to make conscious choices that are environmentally considerate is what is
depleting our natural resources and covering the earths surface with garbage. I would argue that not
enough of an emphasis is placed on the importance and value that recycling can bring to our
communities. Awareness efforts are not highlighted nearly as much as they need to be. Placing a blue
recyclables garbage can next to every black one is not enough of a push to get people to recycle. Too
many people act as if its someone elses job to save the planet. If that attitude persists, future
generations will be faced with a planet that is far worse off than it is right now. If there is even a planet
left.
Consumerism happens on every continent and in every city on Earth; some countries are just more
wasteful than others. And worse still, several
countries still trail far behind other developed
nations in the ability to properly recycle and reuse
the waste they produce. They have outdated
disposal practices, inept waste management
technology, and substandard comprehension of the
potential health risks posed by hazardous emissions9.
In a 2012 report by the Blacksmith Institute, it was
found that middle and low income countries are in
the most danger of experiencing severe
environmental pollution, and they are also the
biggest offenders10. But not every country is to
blame for depleting our planets resources;
important measures have been well under way in
other countries to help mitigate environmental damage.
The country of Sweden, for example, is one of the worlds foremost leaders in recycling and reusing
materials. A staggering less than 1% of household waste ends up in landfills! Sweden is working diligently
towards what they call a recycling revolution, turning nearly every bit of the items they consume into
materials that can be recycled, regenerated into new products, or turned into some form of energy11.
Most household waste is separated by the Swedes in their homes, and then taken to the appropriate
facilities. Sweden also imports over 700,000 tons of waste from other countries to process into energy.
And even though their consumption of goods has increased threefold since 1985 and a large portion of
their waste is burned, they have somehow managed to reduce their heavy metal emissions12. Over 99%
of the smoke from incineration plants is non-toxic, filtered carbon dioxide and water13. Sweden is the
example for how more countries need to respond to the tremendous accumulation of waste.

Marco Cannon Signature Assignment GEOG 1700

www.unep.org

The overwhelming sentiment of those on the

front lines of the global movement to go
green is that humans consume far more than
they need to. Rarely do people stop to ask
themselves whether the object of their desire
is a need or merely a want. When they are in
the financial position to buy a newer version
of something they already have or acquire
something theyve never had before, little
consideration is given to the environmental
impact. According to the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), e-waste is
one of the fastest growing forms of waste
14
across the world . As wonderful as technology is, the better it gets, the more waste it creates. The
lifespan of computers and smart devices is rapidly decreasing, which means the number of these items
that wind up in the landfill is rapidly increasing15. When these items are not properly disposed of,
hazardous materials become intermixed with the rest of the MSW; unnecessarily exposing the
environment to their harmful contents.
If we continue to populate the planet at our
present pace and consume at the rate we currently
do, we would need THREE planets to facilitate the
estimated 9.6 billion the population is expected to
reach by 205016. Since we cannot require people to
stop reproducing, we must then rethink the way
we dispose of things once they have served their
usefulness. The old way of simply throwing things
in the garbage was a largest culprit for why we
needed to create immense landfills in the first
place. Luckily, it doesnt have to continue to be this
way!
Miller, Gary, Photographer; Jersey City, New Jersey, United States;
03/1973; Wikimedia

There is good news on the horizon in our quest to save the planet. The United States has seen a steady
increase over the years in the practice of recycling and reusing materials, rather than thoughtlessly
tossing them into a landfill. From its 2012 Facts and Figures publication, the EPA reported that recycling
and composting efforts saved 86.6 million tons of waste from going to the landfill; a respectable
increase from the 15 million tons saved in 198017. That equates to saving more than 1.1 quadrillion Btu of
energy the yearly energy use of close to 10 million homes18! Further estimates show that every ton of
mixed paper recycled can save the energy equivalent of 165 gallons of gasoline19 and recycling just 1
ton of aluminum cans conserves more than 153 million Btu, the equivalent of 26 barrels of oil, or 1,665

Marco Cannon Signature Assignment GEOG 1700

gallons of gasoline20! The EPA recommends that every household implement their own recycling
program:
Recycling has environmental benefits at every stage in the life cycle of a consumer productfrom
the raw material with which its made to its final method of disposal. By utilizing used, unwanted,
or obsolete materials as industrial feedstocks or for new materials or products, Americans can each
do our part to make recycling, including composting work. Aside from reducing GHG emissions,
which contribute to global warming, recycling, including composting also provides significant
economic and job creation impacts21.
Recycling rates in America have increased to over 34% in 2012, up from just 10% in 198022. But as with all
things that concern the health and lifespan of every living thing on the planet, we can do more. We
need to do more. Our lives depend on it.
More good news is that beginning recycling and
reusing habits of your own take very little effort
to get the ball rolling in the right direction. The
2012 infographic created by the EPA outlines
numerous ways people can contribute to the
reduction in items ending up in landfills. Simple
things like purchasing products that have been
constructed out of recycled materials, buying and
using refillable containers, reusing plastics bags,
removing your name from paper mailing lists, and
composting food scraps and yard waste23 can,
over time and with enough people participating, make a colossal difference. When small
www.nsw.greens.org.au
changes by each person are added together, they compound creating large-scale change. But we must
first make the message matter to people. There can be no mistaking the importance of each person
taking ownership of their own behavior and making concerted changes to their lives. Without the
involvement of every person, we will kill this planet faster than we can save it.
The first step to combating the issue of such large amounts of MSW making
its way to the landfill is to ask ourselves, Is there a production process that
can be implemented that will reduce the materials needed to create our
desired product? Next, we need to question whether there is a way to reuse
materials that have been used previously. We then must look into the types
of disposal that are allowed for the products we create. Are we making
something that has nowhere to go once its usefulness has come to an end? Is
there a way to recycle these materials? The answers to all of these questions
needs to be a resounding YES if we are to ever have any hope of saving this
planet for future generations.
www.wastenet.net.au

Marco Cannon Signature Assignment GEOG 1700

https://www.census.gov/popclock/
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/index.htm
3
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf
4
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf
5
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_dat_tbls.pdf
6
http://www.recyclingcenters.org/history_of_recycling.php
7
http://www.recyclingcenters.org/history_of_recycling.php
8
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf
9
http://www.worstpolluted.org/files/FileUpload/files/2012%20WorstPolluted.pdf
10
http://www.worstpolluted.org/files/FileUpload/files/2012%20WorstPolluted.pdf
11
https://sweden.se/nature/the-swedish-recycling-revolution
12
https://sweden.se/nature/the-swedish-recycling-revolution
13
https://sweden.se/nature/the-swedish-recycling-revolution
14
http://www.unep.org/gpwm/FocalAreas/E-WasteManagement/tabid/56458/
15
http://www.unep.org/gpwm/FocalAreas/E-WasteManagement/tabid/56458/
16
http://www.unep.org/NEWSCENTRE/default.aspx?DocumentId=2812&ArticleId=11068
17
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/index.htm
18
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf
19
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf
20
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf
21
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf
22
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf
23
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/infographic/index.htm
2