Where Does All Your Trash Go?

On average, Americans produce about 1,600 pounds (726 kg) of garbage per person per year. To cut down all that trash, make sure that you are following the three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle.

What happens to the waste that garbage trucks collect? In the United States, most trash is taken to landfills. Other trash is transported to incinerators, where it is burned for energy.

LANDFILLS are sites that are carefully designed to prevent dangerous waste from escaping into the soil and getting into groundwater. A thick layer of clay or plastic separates the garbage from the ground, and every day workers add a layer of soil to cover the trash on top. Liquid waste, called leachate, is pumped to the surface, where it is treated and made safe.

Sadly, landfills are expensive and can be bad for the environment. Materials deposited in landfills often do not decompose quickly, and the waste releases harmful methane gas into the environment as it breaks down. Fact: Some landfills collect the methane gas produced from their trash, treat it and then sell it as fuel.

burn garbage to create energy. The trash is put into the plants' incinerators, where it burns down to about 10% of its original volume. The energy created by this process heats water, which is turned into steam, which generates electricity. Because burning waste results in harmful CO2 gases, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires that waste-to-energy plants comply with certain rules abut capturing those emissions.

What Does Biodegradable Really Mean?

A biodegradable product has the ability to break down (decompose) safely, quickly and naturally. Many biodegradable products that are sent to landfills, however, do not decompose quickly, because there's too much trash there and not enough air.

Some of the least biodegradable products include: disposable diapers, aluminum cans (You can recycle these.), tin cans, plastic bags, film canisters, glass bottles (\You can recycle these too!) and styrofoam cups.

Tips to Reduce Trash

- Try not to buy more than you need.
- Avoid products with a lot of packaging.
- Try to fix broken items rather than immediately replacing them.
- Donate your old toys, clothes and furnitures to charity or community organizations.

A Waste-Wise City

Hamburg, Germany, provides a good example of what a city can do to decrease waste. The city has invested money in incinerators that have special filters to prevent harmful gases from escaping. The energy generated by the burning of trash is used to heat nearby homes. Ten years ago, Hamburg produced 1.6 million tons of waste and recycled less than 3% of it. Today, the city generates only 1.4 million tons and recycles nearly 60% of its waste.

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