Let's Talk Trash

According the the E.P.A's most recent report the average American throws away 4.6 pounds of garbage each and every day or 1,679 pounds a year. When you times that by over 2 million Americans that is a lot of garbage!

Americans make up less than 5% of the world's population but we manufacture 40% of the world's garbage. Is it any wonder we are considered the most wasteful people in the world?

Where Does all that Garbage Come From?

The garbage we manufacture comes from many sources. From food to automobiles, from paper to plastic to glass.

Figures show that Americans throw away between 35% and 50% of the food they purchase. Not only is this a costly habit but it is one that adds to growing problem of landfills and environment. When food is dumped into landfills and is buried it does not get oxygen and break down as nutrients for the soil rather it turns into methane gas which contributes to global warming.

Experts suggest rather than throw your unused food into the trash you start a compost pile. When placed where oxygen can get to it food will break down into harmless compost that can enrich the soil instead of gas that harms the environment.

Paper is another item that adds to our growing trash problem. Americans use over 50 million tons of paper a year most of it finds its way into the trash bin. This means that 850 million trees need to be cut down in order to keep Americans in paper products.

Recycling paper would save some of these trees further helping the environment and eliminating much of our garbage problem as well.

Another large source of trash comes from plastic packaging and bottles. The average American throws away 60 pounds of plastic packaging a year and there are 13 Billion plastic bottles thrown away by Americans each year.

While most states and most people now recycle plastic pop bottles because of the deposit all other plastic goes straight to landfills. Recycling water bottles and milk jugs would not only cut down on the garbage and helped the environment but these bottles when recycled properly can be used to make playground equipment for our children.

Thirteen million tons of glass is thrown away each year. Glass too is an easy item to recycle instead of throwing in the trash. Recycling those glass jars and bottles could cut air pollution as much as 20%.

In these economic times, most Americans are looking for ways to cut expenses, and recycling items such as old electronics, clothing, and books is a great way to cut expenses. Not only will donating items you no longer feel are useful to you a great way for someone else to obtain useful items at a price they can afford, but you too can save money by shopping resale and thrift shops as well as cut down on the amount of garbage that is being hauled away.

More and more Americans are discovering that recycling can save them money and save the environment. If we all try a little harder we can reduce our waste from more than 4 pounds a day dramatically.

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