Waste Facts and Information in 2010

How bad is the problem with landfills? What is the size of the problem? Are all the efforts by governments and agencies making a worthwhile difference? What can we do to better the statistics? These are all questions that many people ask and discuss; the information is available and my aim is to bring as many facts and figures together on all aspects of recycling and waste through a series of articles. The main focus of these articles will be for America, however I was born and raised in England, so there will be references to my experiences back there from time to time.

To start with, let me put in a few facts to demonstrate where we are at with waste going to landfills and the recycling efforts, together with a few graphs to show trends and for comparisons. These have all been found on the Environment Protection Agency website. Figures for 2011 should be made available in November 2012 and will be published as soon as available.

1.       In 2010, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash but only recycled and composted over 85 million tons of this material, equivalent to a 34.1 percent recycling rate . This is enough waste to fill the Bush Stadium twice a day, every day.

2.       Of this 2010 garbage or Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) total, newspaper/mechanical papers recovery was about 72 percent (7 million tons), and about 58 percent of yard trimmings were recovered. Organic materials continue to be the largest component of MSW. Paper and paperboard account for 29 percent and yard trimmings and food scraps account for another 27 percent. Plastics comprise 12 percent; metals make up 9 percent; and rubber, leather, and textiles account for 8 percent. Wood follows at around 6 percent and glass at 5 percent. Other miscellaneous wastes make up approximately 3 percent of the MSW generated in 2010.

3.       Recycling and composting prevented 85.1 million tons of material away from being disposed of in 2010, up from 15 million tons in 1980. This prevented the release of approximately 186 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the air in 2010—equivalent to taking 36 million cars off the road for a year.

As we can see from the information above, the upward trends have been broken on the amount of waste we are making. The totals for the total recycled and the percentage recycled are continuing in an upward trend. This is all positive news, it shows that all the efforts and collaborations between government, agencies, businesses, local groups and households are starting to reap rewards. But because of the sheer size of the United States, these figures are going to differ wildly from state to state, even between counties/parishes within each state.

My own experience from England, over the last 20 years, is that curbside collections have made a huge impact on household recycling. Previously, it was the responsibility of the householder to take these to the local town council tip or find one of a growing number of recycling containers, made available by groups wishing to raise funds and help the environment. But once collections were rolled out around the towns and into the surrounding villages, the volumes of recycling took a substantial leap. I must point out here that it was not an immediate leap, over a period of time and after many educational flyers and adverts, some people began collecting immediately, but others took a while to be convinced of the merits.

As a man, a well known creature of habit, I can honestly tell you that it took quite a while for it to become a habit to put drink cans, tins, plastic containers etc. into a separate bin and for the first few months, 10-20 % was a good return on my recycling effort. But after a while, it did become second nature to put the trash into separate bins and that on certain weeks, certain bins had to be put out for collection. After 20 odd years of separating my recycling trash, I think I was probably putting 90% of everything that could be recycled into the correct bin at the time of leaving England for a new life here in the United States in 2011.

I now live in Central Louisiana and I was horrified to see my new family, relatives and neighbors chucking everything into the same trash bin to be put out each week. I asked about this and every time the same answers. That there never would be collections out in rural America because of the way the homes are spread out over miles and that it would mean taking the recycling trash 12 miles back into town in our case.

This leads nicely to the arguments I have heard about not recycling. I list some below:

1.       Recycling is too inconvenient. This has to be the number one objection to getting involved in the first place, many people simply cannot be bothered to make the tiniest effort to separate there trash under the misguided notion it is going to take up valuable time in their week. So once you have set up a second bin or bag, how is this any extra effort?

2.       I don’t have enough room to recycle. The only legitimate argument I have heard has been from people living in town/ city centres where they simply do not have room to put another bin. But my argument is, if you have enough room to store a case of bottled water, beer bottles or canned food. Then you already have the case to put the empties back into and drop them off at a recycling point on your way to buy another case.

3.       It doesn’t make that much difference. This argument comes from sensationalist journalism, the effects on global warming, landfills struggling with the capacity they have and experts quoted as saying that as consumption rises, resources will run out. Resources running out is surely a reason to recycle? Landfills that are struggling for capacity is surely a reason to recycle again? Effects on global warming have been increasing for several decades now and cannot be reversed overnight. Landfills have become fewer in number and have become regulated in order to reverse the threats of contamination and pollution.

4.       I would if they paid me. Like they paid you for taking your trash out all these years? The fact is that through our local taxes, we all pay for our household waste to be collected. So whether it is a local council, a group trying to raise funds or a local business willing to make these collections free of charge, should be counted as a saving whilst being environmentally responsible.

Here are the overwhelming arguments for recycling:

1.       Recycling saves energy because the manufacturer doesn’t have to produce something new from raw natural resources. By using recycled materials we save on energy consumption, which keeps production costs down.

2.      Recycling reduces the need for more landfills. No one wants to live next to a landfill.

3.       By recycling, we reduce the need to destroy habitats for animals. Paper recycling alone saves millions of trees.

4.       Recycling and purchasing recycled products creates a greater demand for more recycled goods. Goods made from recycled materials use less water, creates less pollution and uses less energy.

5.       Recycling produces considerably less carbon, which reduces the amount of unhealthy greenhouse gas omissions.

So in the cities, with curbside collections, the percentages are quite healthy. However out of the towns and cities, in my area of Louisiana at least, there are virtually no recycling projects with the exceptions of a few church and school groups. I can only guess it is similar for the rest of rural Americans too. So there is still a long way to go and much work to be done, but for all the work and effort that has gone on to date, the trends and momentum are now positive.  So from the householders perspective, there is a good percentage of the population that has got behind the recycling efforts. But to be fair, most manufacturers and packaging companies are constantly researching ways to reduce packaging or at least make it 100% recyclable. However, I will write about this in greater detail in a future article, to bring the efforts by businesses to everyone’s attention.

Before I finish, here are a few more facts about the life of a few products thrown into the landfill:

·         Disposable diapers last centuries in landfills. An average baby will go through 8,000 of them!

·         Each year Americans throw away 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam cups. Even 500 years from now, the foam coffee cup you used this morning will be sitting in a landfill.

·         Glass does not deteriorate, it will be in the ground forever more.

·         Aluminum cans will be in the ground for 200 years +.

·         Even a tin can could be in the ground for up to 100 years.

Together, we can all keep doing a little and collectively achieve a lot by keeping a lot of materials out of the landfill sites. There are no prizes for achieving 100%, but the consequences for doing nothing are immense for future generations.