What are some solutions for large scale disposing of garbage?

Question

I was just doing some working out and calculated that globally we throw out somewhere in the order of 5000 cubic kilometres (1900 cubic miles) of domestic garbage each year - how can we safely get rid of so much garbage?

Answer 1

Here in the UK the majority of councils run recycling schemes (and all will have to in the next couple of years under EC regulations). Where I currently live we havea green box into which paper of all kinds is put and is sent away to be repulped and reused. Glass goes into a black box in order that that can be reused. Tin cans and plastic bottles go into a sack, agin to be recycled. There is much talk at present about 'chipping' the bins which are collected into which non-recyclable items are placed in oreder that they may be weighed and households disposing of more than a reasonable amount will be surcharged. We also have a group that collects garden refuse and composts it, returning that compost in due course in order that the soil may be enriched. Most towns also have recycling banks into which large quantities of various items can be placed. In my town there is even one operated by the Salvation Army for old clothes. although in this household we tend to give reusable clothes. books, ornaments etc., to charity shops. As we are moving house in the next couple of weeks and need to dispose of quite a lot of accumulated 'stuff' the YMCA has been here twice with a large van to collect furniture we no longer require and which they will restore and sell. OXFAM has taken loads of books which we wil have no room for and which will be sold to raise money for the 3rd world.

The EC has regulations about what maynot be put into landfill, which has had quite an effect on some manufacturers. For example, the Hassleblad camera manufacturers had to discontinue one well regarded and sought after camera as it contained an amount of lead, which must not go into landfill. It was too expensive to retool and use an alternative.

Even stuff like frying oil used by cafés etc. has to be collected and, I believe, is recycled into bio-friendly motor fuel.

Answer 2

It's not the amount that is the problem, it's the content. If it was all the same type of waste, we could easily recycle it. the problem is that it's mixed items. There are metals, plastics, paper, grass clipping, rubber, and many more. It is the separating that makes it hard to handle because no one item can be recycled with another.

Find a practical way to separate these items at a landfill and you've become the next Bill Gates.

Answer 3

Actually a modern well designed landfill is not a bad solution.

Cheap and environmentally safe. The decision to use this option is not necessarily a thoughtless one.

Better recycling would reduce the volume, but it's technically different and expensive. It has a place where landfill space is really expensive.

Waste-to-energy doesn't seem to be practical except where landfill space is really hard to find. Too much water and low energy stuff in the waste.

Answer 4

Garbage should not be disposed of - it doesn't need to be and we should stop thinking of things as 'waste'.

Try the link below for a modern method of separating ordinary household garbage for recycling.

Answer 5

By creating less: that is recycling everything that can be, composting all that can be, re-using or passing along things you no longer want or need to someone that can use them, make rags out of clothing that is no longer usable. In short, do not bag that 'trash' and send it to a land fill. Instead, use it up, pass it along or recycle/compost it.

Answer 6

create more recyclable products, for the products that are not recyclable, build a cost effective rocket and launch it into the sun, it will be incinerated. you launch 3 of those a month from each region it could help alleviate the problem.

Answer 7

Zoning! Decentalized waste segregation areas in local communities, also have biogas digesters in strategic locations in order to convert the biogradeables into useful fuel sources.

Answer 8

Oil production?

http://itotd.com/articles/205/oil-from-garbage/

http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2004/Changing-World-Technologies4apr04.htm

Answer 9

Well I always taught that burning would be part of the answer and more recycleing .

Answer 10

by producing environmentally friendly biodegradable/recyclable products