What are some solutions to making landfills smaller?

Question

I think this is a huge problem!! i know the u.s. will probably not run out of space for landfills... but i think landfills can't be good for the soil & ground! How could the united state find a way to cut back on trash? I think since paper is Biodegradable we should at least try to find a way to pacage a lot of our exports and goods in some type of paper ... but that would be hard for some things like drinks,,, u cant put liquid in paper!! What are some soolutions to oversized landfills?!

Answer 1

Actually you CAN put liquids in paper! What about paper cups??? Worked wonders in drinks machines for years...
I agree though. More paper packaging replacing plastics, better recyclable plastics and biodegradable plastics certainly would help...

Answer 2

I think the main thing is to encourage individuals, organisations and councils to recycle more and at the same time encourage manufacturers to use more recycled products and to manufacture things in such a way that they're easier to recycle once used.

In some parts of the world where they're keyed up on recycling less than 5% of all waste ends up in landfills. Tires can be shredded and the rubber used in surface dressings including blacktop, plant matter can be composted and reused of allowed to biodegrade and the methane released used to heat buildings such as schools and hospitals, a lot of discarded electrical goods can be shipped to poorer countries where they get repaired or stripped down and the components used elsewhere. Pretty much anything that's made of metal, plastic, wood, glass, paper or plant matter can be recycled - it's just a case of people doing so and the facilities being there in the first place.

In the UK the government recently announced a scheme to reduce Council Tax (an annual charge used to pay for municipal services inclusing waste disposal) and charge people according to the weight of rubbish they throw out. People who recycle the most will save the most so it provides a financial incentive for recycling. We'll have to wait and see if the scheme works and if the government really do reduce Council Tax bills like they said they would.

Answer 3

No matter what we do we will most likely have trash to throw in landfills. A properly managed landfill is fairly safe but soil conditions in some areas can make then difficult to stay safe. But as far as making them smaller we can certainly do that but each solution has many of their own drawbacks.

Recycle...Recycling sounds like a no brainer but it often costs more energy to recycle many products than it cost to make it from it's original raw materials. Many products high in recycled content are more expensive to cover those recycling costs. So while it sounds green alot of energy had to be used to make it usable again.

Incineration/Burning...We can burn all sorts of things although many products when burned can cause all sorts of problems from noxious fumes to just plain nasty smoke. While some benefit can be had when burned for energy production, most waste products are much of a benefit here because they don't burn hot enough to help create the energy needed make electricity. But the ash left over from the incineration is certainly more compact than the trash that was burned.

No matter what we do there will be drawbacks but at least a properly managed landfill can minimize the impact on the environment.

Answer 4

the Us won't run out of space for landfills, because corporations are already looking at Africa as a good place for our garbage. If you do a little research, you may find out about a floating island of trash in the pacific ocean that is about the size of Texas, and weighs about 3 million tons... And that is just Taco Bell wrappers from California.

Answer 5

Reduce, reuse and recycle in that order. Before buying something for yourself or someone else, think about it, do you or they really need it, in some cases it might become a dust collector and find its way to a landfill. Is an item of clothing worn once or twice or just during one season really necessary?

Answer 6

I believe that we can someday "mine" our landfills.

Most of the non-biodegradable material are plastics - carbon polymers that have no naturally existing life-forms that can degrade them. Bioengineering bacteria to "digest" this material may be technologically and economically feasible in the near future. If those bacteria are designed to produce a bacteria that allows us to create additional plastics to use in manufacture, we will have found a way to recycle the items that past and present generations neglected to do.

Answer 7

1) Drill more. It will take time for anything new to be functional, so in the short term drill domestically and get off of as much foreign oil as possible. 2) Build Nuclear Power Plants. The technology is there already and has been proven in Europe and Japan. It will take time to build plants and reactors, but they can provide most electrical power needed by the USA with zero greenhouse gases. 3) Look into offshore hydro-plants. The ocean currents augmented by wind and solar could power the countries electrical needs in the long term, but the infrastructure for it would take decades to build, which is why domestic oil and nuclear would be needed in the gap. Those former oil rigs with turbines and the infrastructure could power the nation, but transferring that to North Dakota would take large infrastructure upgrades that will take time.

Answer 8

We have a deposit on bottles i think we should put a deposit on cans and jars also so they can be easily recycled . The way its set up to return them is supper easy with the bottle machines they have at all the grocery stores.

Answer 9

Recycle more things. Lessen how much you throw in the trash, if you cant refill somethign versus getting a new container do that.

Answer 10

Uhhh... They have a sulution to this problem.

They burn it and use the energy to provide electricity.