The mention of "trash" brings to mind images of dumpsters and landfills. Improper trash disposal is wasteful (literally!), harmful, expensive and sometimes totally unnecessary. The amount of trash we in the USA throw away has more
than doubled in the last 30 years while the population has increased by only 38%.
This program is aimed at you: it shows you the amount of trash entering and
leaving your home. Using this program, you can save money, protect your health and
actually improve your standard of living!
You will see how trash, or waste, with all its costs and impacts, can be greatly reduced through: | |
1. Intelligent shopping 2. Resource-conserving household practices 3. Recycling |
4. Composting 5. Proper disposal |
This program introduces the four-R's of solid waste management: reducing, reusing, recycling and response.
Each year in the United States more landfills close than open. New landfills are limited by regulations, public concern and lack of suitable sites. Trash disposal is an ever-growing concern with few easy answers. The best solution, and the one advocated by the EPA, is called source reduction, or reducing both the toxicity and amount of waste as close to its generation point as possible.
Incineration is sometimes considered a relatively easy answer to the growing volume of waste. Unfortunately, the process of incineration generates dioxin, a known and powerful cause of cancer. Incineration also emits many heavy metals and chemical compounds that can pose health hazards. For example, in a state-of-the-art incinerator in New Jersey that burns 2,250 tons of household waste daily, annual emissions include: 5 tons of lead, 17 tons of mercury, 580 pounds of cadmium, 2,248 tons of nitrous oxide, 853 tons of sulfur dioxide, 777 tons of hydrogen chloride, 87 tons of sulfuric acid, 18 tons of fluorides and 98 tons of particulate matter. Much of this material ends up in ash leftover from incineration and must be placed in a sealed landfill. As a waste disposal solution, incinerators clearly are not the answer.
Waste also involves close personal health risks. Almost every household uses (and discards) items that contain hazardous wastes, such as:
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Hazardous wastes are defined as, but not limited to, materials that are explosive, radioactive, ignitable corrosive, toxic, or reactive. If improperly used and disposed of, hazardous waste can create health risks for ourselves, and severely damage the environment. When armed with information, you can weigh the benefits against the potential risks of using hazardous materials in your home.
Too often we don't know the effects that waste products have on ourselves, or future generations. We do know that we cannot sustain our wasteful practices forever. Hazardous wastes are the result of a one-way system in which the end products of resources and energy inputs can't be reused, recycled, or returned to nature. We talk about taking care of waste from cradle to grave, that is, from the creation of waste to its disposal. But why not consider instead a circular cycle of taking care of waste from cradle to cradle, treating "waste" as a responsibility and a valuable resource?
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