What happens to garbage... ??

Question

My husband and I were debating what happens to garbage. He was saying it gets sorted and everything gets recycled anyway- regardless if I take the time to recycle goods or not. Does anybody know what happens to garbage? is it just dumped and left there to decompose?

Answer 1

Tell your hubby that if he is talking about the U.S. then he is right if only partially... But, if he is talking about....say... a country like the Philippines for example, then the garbage gets picked through by mostly the elderly and children first for food to eat, then for things to wear and to make shelter, then anything else is used to try and sell to make money.... Often, these very people digging through these disease infested dumps get sick as a result.....

Just take a look at these images if you want to really see what happens to our garbage!!!

http://www.american-pictures.com/gallery...

http://www.newint.org/issue378/keynote.h... (Scroll down a bit to see the children trash pickers)

Answer 2

It depends on your waste management system.  

Yes, ours goes through the garbage and sorts it.  It's just *much* easier for consumers to use the recycling bins so recyclables can go directly to the recycling section.  

I know this because I just got a letter from our waste management system, noting that I was putting some things into my regular trash that could be recycled.

Answer 3

if you live in Canada the garbage gets taken to either a landfill site and buried or to a incinerator and burned but in most cases just buried.As for the items you separate and put in the blue box they get taken to a recycling centre and separated and shipped to respective buyers.I would really find it hard to believe anywhere in North America they have sorting plants for raw garbage,3rd world countries yes as the other person related to

Answer 4

The garbage trucks carry everything to the same landfill. Some sorting is done but it is hit and miss. I've seen some sorting but then I have also seen carefully sorted recyclables deliberately tossed in with the general trash. I'm sure that a lot of recyclables are sorted into separate containers and actually gets recycled. The toxic stuff is separated where possible and the vast landfills are filled with non-toxic household waste and buried. Methane exhaust pipes are built into the fills, then the site is left for many years. Does anyone know how many years is required by law? At least 20 yrs for sure. I do know the government monitors the methane levels in case of excess heat leading to possible fires. Metals, plastics, glass, paper etc are supposed to be separated and recycled, and it is often legally required.

Answer 5

depending on where you live.  In some places garbage ends up at a "garbage burning facility" where they dump it into huge incinerators and the ash is then buried.  (in Oregon there is a facility) in others its taken to a landfill and simply covered up by dirt.  I've never heard of it being sorted out.   (they sort recycling of course)

Answer 6

Most garbage is not sorted, but sent to landfills where it is covered with dirt. Sadley this method is highly uneffective and the garbage decomposes very slowly--so slowly that it is actually like perserving the garbage. Some scientists have dug up 100 year old landfills and found whole hot dogs!

Answer 7

depends, yeah your recyclables are sorted regardless, but if it goes in the trash, it goes to the dump, a big hole in the ground that turns into a big mountain after about 10 years, they say it decomposes but i dont beleive it lol  ive taken a lot of c**p to the dump that i can promise you wiull still be there long after you die and turn to dust.

Answer 8

you husband was wright the garbage it is gets recycled

Answer 9

Well when I was living in West Virgina I know the landfill just minutes from my house had trash from New Jersey being dumped their.  Which is ridiculous because it's like a 7 hour drive so not only does WV get to take NJ garbabge but lots of gas gets burned up in the process.  NOT EFFICIENT. I had to go their twice and it was disgusting.  They also had a huge warehouse sized building that said COMPOSTING CENTER on it.  

I asked the man at the gate if we could use the composted material for our farm.

He replied by saying, "Theres human **** in their, mountains of it and it's not currently active cuz we don't make enough money."  He went on to say that they were still dumping **** in there though.   So my point is that landfills are not pretty places.