Consumer 's Role On Creating More Garbage Over The Years

Take a moment to imagine the realization that a young boy came to when two of his favorite movies had a large plotline that was somewhat based on the problems of trash. Wall-E, the famous Pixar movie, was based on a small robot that was left behind on Earth’s surface alone. His job was to clean the garbage that the human population left behind when they went into space to escape their problems. Toy Story 3, another Pixar movie, contained a scene with garbage that was vital to the plot, in which the characters are rescued from a trash furnace that was consuming literally tons of trash a minute. These two movies tried to make the American population aware of the ever growing trash situation, however, Americans quickly forgot about the Earth shattering situation that they are causing. The solution to the world’s trash problem is easy; people need to be educated on the problems of trash and given an easy way to fix it. People should be required to visit a landfill, educated on the severity of the trash problem, and should be rewarded for changing their habits to improve the problem.

Heather Roger claims our current garbage disposal methods are short term and etiquette. Rogers’s position is clear that we need to minimize the use of landfills and create better means to discard trash. In supporting Rogers’s environment views I think that we need to create a more economic and environmental friendly garbage disposal system. Heather Rogers and Lars Eighner both acknowledge the issue with society’s throwaway mentality. Eighner proves that we throw away perfectly working stuff, having survived off others discarded materials. Eighner argues against excessive waste we create but does not have any prospected solutions. Whereas Rogers acknowledges the obvious need to minimize our consumption of waste but argues the need

Many people say that recycling is a waste of time or that they just don't have the time.”Yes it’s popular in affluent neighborhoods like Park Slope in Brooklyn and in cities like San Francisco, but residents of Bryon and Houston don't have the same fervor for sorting garbage in their spare time’(“The Reign of Recycling”). The world needs more people to recycle no matter where they live. It seems that even if more people have started recycling things have not changed much.”While it’s true that the recycling message has reached more people than ever, when it come down to the bottom line,both economically and environmentally, not much has changed at all”(“The Reign of Recycling”). People need to work harder to make a change that will account to something. The goals are being set higher and higher but with little success. ”While politicians set higher and higher goals, the national rate of recycling has stagnated in recent years”(“The Reign of Recycling”). This rate has ceased to flow. If something changes how people feel about recycling then the nation may be able to meet its

A teacher once told me, “One mans trash is another mans treasure, what he doesn’t appreciate the next man will.” Until recently analyzing this statement I always pondered about it as a metaphor using the thoughts, and ideas of people, but after reading Garbology I have come up with a literal process of reusing trash. On average Americans wastes 220 million tons of waste generated each year in the United States which ends up in one of the over 3,500 landfills. According to Edward Humes, the author of Garbology, “Garbage has become one the most accurate measures of prosperity in the twenty-first-century America and the world,” which proves that trash is a means to improving the success rate of Americans. This reminds me of the words of Confucius who stated, “When a goal cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goal, adjust the action step” because with the knowledge from garbology we can

An educational campaign should be launched to inform and encourage new behaviors. All consumers should be shown the benefit of composting versus traditional disposal methods. Once consumers have been properly educated, encouraging participation is key. This would include providing a composting method for waste to be properly composted. The food recycling program would provide the means for all associates to begin composting donations rather than disposing via trash receptacles. Food compost bins should be provided in any food service industry to allow for proper disposal of waste. Companies should locate composting facilities and begin distributing food waste to said facilities rather than traditional trash disposal services. If possible and practical, companies should work to create their own composting stations.

From that “. . . cheese with a spot of mold” to that “. . . half jar of peanut butter” (64). Furthermore, I think that if people read this essay they may realize that some of the stuff they call trash is actually not trash at all. This essay personally made me become more thankful that I don’t have to dumpster dive just to be able to eat. Likewise, I began to understand that I and others “throw away perfectly good stuff” that really shouldn’t be in the trash (64). By making an effort to reduce my waste, I will reduce my ecological footprint on the earth and ultimately leave more resources for further

Another argument which can be used to demonstrate the value of rubbish is with regards to environmental concerns. In recent years, rubbish has been placed into landfill sites, where the items of waste can take hundreds of years to degrade, or disposed of in incinerators, thereby releasing harmful gases into the Earth’s atmosphere. However, in understanding the value of our environment we can revalue this rubbish, we see it not as something to be simply discarded, but to be reused and recycled. Between April 2010 and March 2011, the rate of recycling in England increased to an all-time-high of 41.2% (The Guardian, 2011); this suggests that although not all rubbish is considered valuable by everyone, the level of value we attach to rubbish is on the rise due to the increase in importance that we are attributing to our environment. Perhaps at a time when we, as a global community, are recycling one hundred percent of our waste it would be possible to say that the statement, ‘rubbish has no value,’ is completely inaccurate.

Garbage is something that gives meaning to the phrase “out of sight, out of mind.” As soon as the garbage man comes at his regularly scheduled time, our trash is whisked away to be properly disposed of. As long as we put garbage in the trash can and not on the side of the street, we’re doing the right thing (and consequently not wasting Utah). Incidentally, there are those of us who sometimes wonder if there is something inherently wrong with our quick and “proper” disposal of discards. I, myself, have felt the occasional pang of guilt when I drop something in the trash can. I recycle; isn’t that enough? Gone Tomorrow explores this question, and it sheds a dirty light on the reality of our disappearing garbage trick.

As a member of Environmental Club, I participate in sorting and processing the recyclables in the high school once a month. A few times a year, the Environmental Club holds a “trash bash,” where our entire club meets at a “trashed” area in our community and cleans it up. This normally takes most of the

All of this trash means one thing: the current rate of waste generation in the United States is unsustainable; something must be done. The consequences of the throw-away society mindset are already visible, not only on the environment, but on the economy as well. Excessive waste leads to waste management fees, in addition to the cost of reproducing the disposed of products, the cost of the fuel to transport American garbage overseas, etc. All of this extra expense adds up to a substantial amount of wasted money that negatively impacts the American economy.

A worker at a paper factory in Illinois states, “Then the issue was saving a tree. But trees are replaced. We plant them, we cut them, we plant them again” (Pendleton). The worker also said, “The problem now is the landfill situation, I think this one is going to stick” (Pendleton). By 1991 thirty-nine states and hundreds of local governments have passed laws or solutions requiring the purchase of recycled paper. According to Henry Miller, vice president of a paper mill said, “By volume, thirty-eight percent of solid waste in a landfill is paper and cardboard” (Pendleton). That paper and cardboard, if recycled could have produced that much paper or other products and it would have cleared up thirty-eight percent of many landfills across America. One major way to get people involved with recycling is the environment perspective. Not only would the landfills be cut down the environment gains a lot by having people recycle. So what do the states do to keep the environment clean? They enact laws against litter and waste. One way is the state requiring the deposit on beer and soft-drink bottles and cans (Prichard 8A). In those states, millions of bottles and cans that once were left on beaches, tossed in rivers and parks or thrown along the highways are being taken back to stores instead for a refund. A twenty-year old student from Michigan said, “Throwing away cans is like throwing away money to me” (Prichard 8A). These state laws must be working if people have this

The average resident produces seven and a half pounds of garbage every day that is buried down in landfills and litters lands costing a great amount of money. Nowadays, people face no more critical trouble than the need to save the weakening environment, mainly in urban areas, where solid wastes are uselessly dumped. It has been observed that cities have no controlled structure for garbage disposal. Each year, millions of dollars are spent picking up litter and more is thrown away in valuable materials that could be recycled. As humanity develops new technology and equipment, the level of waste increases every day. Due to the fact that there is a huge problem with garbage disposal, government representatives must contribute to resolving

Throughout the United States, many people litter and contribute to the trash on the sides of the roads on a daily basis. It is extremely important to pick up trash since trash can be dangerous to our safety, our wildlife, and our economy. Aquatic debris can be threatening to common activities such as swimming and fishing. Wildlife are harmed every day, because they consider plastic and litter as food or get stuck in ropes. The United States thrives on the recreation and tourism industries, which can be harmed by the great amounts of trash on roads and popular areas in towns. Picking up trash is an extremely important act that can help people take action against pollution and see the various kinds of trash that are present on sidewalks. Individuals often do not realize just how dangerous or prevalent trash is until they experience and collect it firsthand. Trash cleanup can also educate people on the different types of litter such as cigarettes, food wrappers, caps, and lids. A major advantage to a project like collecting trash is that it can incorporate children and youth; there is not a specific age when individuals can start picking up trash and contributing to a cleaner city. The practice encourages young people to be more aware of the choices they make and use their ability to constantly recycle and reuse items that they do not use anymore. Garbage falls into two broad categories. The first, Total Solid Waste (TSW) is the aggregate amount of solid waste produced in the

Every day I sit at lunch and watch person after person throw away perfectly good food. Even I am guilty of throwing away food I did not want or food I was “too full” to possibly eat. Someone will take a container of yogurt or a sandwich out of their lunch bag, decide they don’t want it, and proceed to toss it into the black, wheeled trash cans. All that runs through my mind when I witness and experience these wasteful habits is that people don’t understand how much perfectly eatable food faces the trash can every day. Food waste does not only occur in schools, food waste occurs in multiple environments, such as restaurants, grocery stores, and every day households. Food waste comes in all different forms as well, whether it is whole containers of salvageable snacks or scraps of food capable of utilization as compost. People don’t completely understand the ample amounts of food wasted every day, every month, and every year. Because of this lack of awareness and knowledge, the government should provide educational programs regarding food waste and teach alternative disposal methods, such as composting or recycling, to the general public. The government should also instill food waste prevention programs to make sure people aren’t throwing away perfectly good food because of reasons such as excess shopping or large meal portions.

American citizens throw away millions of tons of garbage each year, and this trash has to go somewhere. While there are projects underway to clean and reuse this refuse most of it gets dumped into huge landfills. These landfills are disgusting festering blisters on our country's landscape. But people continue to consume and throw away more and more in the name of convenience. As they see it, when things get old, throw it away and get a new one. They blame the government for the trash problem, but the truth blame should be placed on themselves.