Performing a Vital Service
Each of us generates about 4.6 pounds of trash per day. The average household generates between a ton and a ton and a half of trash per year. This material must be disposed of safely, cleanly, and as inexpensively as possible. Many kinds of waste simply cannot be recycled. Incineration poses air quality issues. Disposal at well-designed and well-run landfills is the state-of-the-art and sensible answer.
Because modern waste collection and disposal is so efficient and safe, we tend to lose sight of how important it is to our ability to function as a society. Consider that in the 1880s garbage and manure routinely were piled several feet thick on the streets of New York. If garbage was collected at all, it was likely to have been dumped into rivers, lakes, or the ocean. Even through most of the 20th century, waste disposal was crude by today's standards. Across Pennsylvania, we had open burning and unregulated dumps, most of which were little more than unprotected garbage pits.
Prompt and proper disposal of waste is essential to public health. "Here in America, we pretty much have forgotten that garbage is first and foremost a public health issue," an article in Waste Age noted. Case in point: Collection and disposal of trash and debris became a critical issue after Hurricane Katrina. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, more than 80 million cubic yards of debris were removed from the Gulf Coast, an amount equal to the debris removed from the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Andrew combined.
Waste disposal is one of the services that is considered key in convincing large businesses and industries to establish and remain in a particular region. Thus, waste disposal is an important factor in economic development.
Economics also plays a part in waste disposal choices, just as it does with other services that involve tax or consumer dollars. Where waste is taken is an economic decision based on distance and cost.
Landfills remain the primary component in the overall waste management solution. Even the best recycling programs can recover only 20 to 40 percent of a community's solid waste. That leaves 60 to 80 percent that must be disposed of in landfills. Even incinerators and waste-to-energy facilities produce residue (10 to 20 percent of the original waste material) that must be disposed of in landfills.
In Pennsylvania, according to federal estimates, 20 percent of our trash is recycled, 14 percent is incinerated, and 66 percent is disposed of in landfills.
Here are the top 10 most prevalent materials in the solid waste stream, which together account for 61.7 percent of the total overall:
