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Concerns with Waste Management and Governments Plans to Help
ENGR 120
10-06-07

Whether in our lifetime or thousands of years from now, the world will one day run out of empty space to store societies waste. Our globe only has a set amount of available space to set aside for the disposal of our waste. Since this is the case, it is not only our government’s problem but the problem of all human beings. In collaboration with our legislature, citizens can help in the safe and proper disposal of trash.
Lynn Landers nailed the problem on the head when he said, “It's as if Detroit built cars, but the government wouldn't build any roads or pass any traffic laws. That's the current state of waste management in the United States - no federal infrastructure and no federal standards. No wonder recycling can't "compete" with waste disposal.” Without a governmental program enacted nation wide, our country will eventually suffer from the pollutants and toxins being released from landfills. Our nation’s policy on waste management is the “free market” at its worst.
According to Landers, recycling efforts face three large problems in the US: no effective federal plan, foreign waste imports and domestic waste exports, and over-population. In our country right now, no plan is in effect to help benefit society by recycling. In 1976 congress passed the Solid Waste Disposal Act, but with no state support and no action from the EPA the plan died off. According to Biocycle Magazine, the US has imported nearly 48 million tons more than it has exported since 1997. With that trend, in 30 years we will have accumulated 144 million tons of waste from outside of our own country. The other problem with waste management deals with the increasing population of the United States. At an annual growth of 3 million people, waste management programs are forced to face the problem of more people with more trash.
In our state,...