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Each day, every person in the United States throws away about three and a half pounds of trash.
That may not seem like much, but in a year’s time the trash would fill a hole the size of a football field 100 miles deep. It would fill enough garbage trucks to reach halfway to the Moon. The trash includes 60 million plastic bottles, almost 2 million aluminum soda cans, and just under 2 pounds of paper per day per person. Where does it all go? Landfills. Landfills in the United States are filling up at a faster and faster rate. The cost and ecological problems of opening new landfills are tremendous. That’s where conservation comes in.
Welcome to the Landfill
Most garbage goes to landfills. A landfill is an area specifically set aside for trash. To keep animals away, each day new trash is covered with a layer of compacted soil. ▼
As bacteria break down the trash, a gas called methane is produced. Methane has no odor or color, so there’s no way of knowing when it is present. If methane is stored in large quantities, it can cause an explosion. Pipes in a landfill collect the methane and burn it or carry it into the air. In some landfills, methane is stored and sold as natural gas, which is used to heat homes and businesses.
Since the trash in a landfill is kept dry and covered, it breaks down very, very slowly. A Styrofoam cup dumped into a landfill today will still be there 500 years from now.
Batteries, nail polish remover, spray cans, and other trash give off dangerous chemicals. Although a landfill is mostly dry, some water seeps through the trash and takes these chemicals with it. Though pipes carry away most of the water, the system is imperfect, and harmful chemicals can leak into the soil.
Reduce the amount of garbage you make.
Reuse things instead of throwing them out.
Recycle paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum.
• Fix something that’s broken instead of throwing it away.
• When you buy something, carry it home without a bag or take your own bag to the store.
• Avoid using throwaway forks and cups.
• Refill empty bottles of water instead of buying new ones.
• Use both sides of every sheet of paper. Save scrap paper for recycling.
• Buy and use things that are made to last.
• Buy goods that require less wrapping and packaging.
• Reuse empty jars as holders for things like pencils and pens.
• Instead of throwing out food waste and grass clippings, use them to make compost, which turns into new soil.
• Separate trash so you can recycle paper, glass, aluminum cans, and plastic.
• Take old batteries, cell phones, and other electronic equipment to a recycling center.
▲ As a teenager, Chad Pregracke decided to do something to help clean up the garbage along the banks of the Mississippi River. He began by cleaning up 100 miles of the river’s shoreline. He collected and recycled more than 45,000 pounds of trash. The following year, 1998, he founded Living Lands and Waters (LL&W). The organization is committed to protecting, preserving, and restoring the natural environment of the major rivers and watersheds in the United States. With 14 members and more than 70,000 volunteers, as of today, LL&W has cleaned up 8 million pounds of garbage along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Due to their hard work and enthusiasm, more and more people now recognize the need for preserving our rivers and the land surrounding them.
“Most people think we just pick up garbage. They forget what the garbage does to the wildlife in the rivers. A single car tire contains seven gallons of petroleum, and a fridge’s compressor is loaded with PCBs [polychlorinated biphenyl—a dangerous chemical waste]. We collect thousands of these a year.”
—Chad Pregracke
A Word About Recycling
• Recycling not only reduces the amount of trash we throw away but also helps protect the environment and saves energy and resources.
• E-waste (discarded electronic equipment such as computers and cell phones) contains lead and mercury, which are toxic chemicals that should never reach a landfill. This equipment should be returned to the manufacturer or to special centers for recycling.
• Recycling one aluminum can will save enough energy for three hours of television.
• By recycling all our paper, we would reduce trash by 40 percent. This would reduce pollution and save water, energy, and trees, which take a long time to grow.
