Why is a trillion kilograms of stuff being dumped in landfills every year all over the world?

Question

All the stuff being dumped in landfills could be processed into raw material that can be used to make new products rather than mining for the raw materials required. Why is nothing being done that would eliminate the need for landfills? The cost of processing the stuff being dumped is less than the cost of mining new raw material when the total cost is considered so it makes no sense to use landfills at all.

Answer 1

Not true; the cost of reprocessing stuff is more than manufacturing it from scratch, because usually you have to remove labels, printing, and other chemical additives in the recycling process. Plastics, in particular, are thorny -- once you remove all the ink, paper labels, and any of the previous contents which could contaminate the batch, you have to use some pretty aggressive chemicals to melt down/dissolve the plastics so they can be blow-molded once again, and usually, there are still enough contaminants present that you can only make a lower grade of plastic.

That's just the reason why recycling programs aren't more widespread -- it takes rich people willing to pay more for recycled products to make it economically viable for someone to go into business recycling stuff, so you only see it in a few countries. Add to that the fact that humans are intrinsicaly lazy -- unless you REALLY care about recylcing and environmental issues, it takes work to separate your trash into glass, aluminum, paper and plastics, and to compost your organics so that you only throw out a small amount every week, so unless a government makes it relatively easy to recycle stuff, people simply won't do it on a large enough scale to make a difference.

That shouldn't deter you from doing your part, however; every little bit helps, if only a little bit.

Answer 2

Your assertion that the cost of new raw materials is more than recycling cost is only true for *some* materials, not all. A very large percentage of our garbage is either not recylable at all, or only at a very high cost. The solution to that is to make more recylable packaging and products, of course -- but until that happens, nobody will voluntarily recycle the expensive stuff. This has nothing to do with ecology, and everything to do with profit -- if a company could get their materials cheaper by recycling, they would...it would increase their profit margin.

Consumers are still doing a terrible job of recycling the things that ARE cheap and easy to do -- aluminum, glass and plastic bottles, newspaper, etc. I read that in 2005, less than 2% of consumer goods in the above categories that *could* be recycled were -- so we're still tossing 98% of it in landfills. Unless the government passes a law making it illegal to throw away recyclable materials (it'd probably be unenforceable anyway -- who's going to dig through your garbage to see if you've been bad?), it's up to voluntary efforts to get us doing better.

Answer 3

NO,NO, NO! it fairly is a Sanitary Landfill! Sheesh, a wide-unfold landfill is purely sparkling airborne dirt and dirt as a exchange of rotting, fermenting, poisonous, maggot crammed ratfeed. ----- playstation : The stinken unload is the place you opt for motor vehicle factors.

Answer 4

because people are careless and find it easier than recycling. Too bad for our children though who will have to live with the consequences. people get too caught up in the now and do not see the effects of their actions on future generations