Are big piles of garbage at the dump good news or bad news? According to our county waste officials, the amounts of waste produced in the summer of 2016 was big 鈹� bigger than usual. These observers say that high volumes of waste are a good sign 鈹� it means the economy is strong. But do they know what they’re talking about?
They pay attention to all the components of waste: biodegradable materials (like food waste), recyclables such as plastic, metal, paper and glass and compostable materials. They pay attention not only to the volume of our garbage, but to what we’re recycling or throwing away like tube TVs, bicycles, toys, lawn mowers and barbeque grills.
Research indicates that the locals do know what they’re talking about. According to Dan Hoornweg, economist with the World Bank, the fastest way to reduce solid waste is to have a recession (shrunken garbage piles, shrunken economy).
The World Bank says that the more we develop higher standards of living, the more we throw away. I’ve seen bikes, wagons, lawn mowers and barbeque grills in the metals section of the landfill that would be considered “finds” by needy people. I understand when flat screen TVs came out, many, many tube types, still working, were disposed of 鈹� so many that the landfill authority needed to charge a separate fee for taking them.
As proof of our prosperity in this country, America leads the world in per capita trash disposal. Germany is second and China is third. Richer countries generate more paper waste than the less prosperous. Paper is the leading component of our waste, mostly from corrugated cardboard boxes because so much of what we produce is packaged and shipped. We recycle 62.5 percent of our paper, but even if we recycle all our trash, we would still need landfills. When you consider the size and complexity of our landfills out here in the rural areas, can you imagine the scope of the problem in the metropolitan areas of the East and West coasts and all the big cities in between?
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