Why is everyone so worried about how much trash people throw away? I throw away 10 bags of trash a week.?

Question

If the landfill gets full we can always make a new one.

Answer 1

There are only so many different things that you  can do with your trash.

Making a new landfill is not as easy as it seems.  No one wants to live next to a landfill, and existing landfills are filling up.  Plus, as the waste degrades, it creates a nasty soup of chemicals and toxins that can leach into the groundwater.   Landfills do as much as they can to control this (testing, lining the landfill) but eventually, whatever you put into the ground will end up in the watershed.  

Alternatively, you can burn it and create energy.  But no one wants to live next to a trash-burning facility.  Plus, the trash tends to put nasty chemicals and toxins into the air.  You can remove these from the exhaust air, but not every last particle.  

And both of these options are getting more expensive.   Land is getting more expensive, and people are less and less interested in having some kind of waste disposal system in their neighborhood.   Pollution control requirements are getting stricter and stricter, and that costs money.

The best solution that we have right now is to reuse and recycle as much as possible, to minimize the amount of waste that we actually need to dispose of.    Which is also expensive.

This is why everyone is so worried about how much trash people throw away.

Good question.

Answer 2

Lets just start burning all the trash

Answer 3

yea but trash i bulky and i guess some people dont like it.

Answer 4

Are you 12 years old?

Answer 5

Where do you think all these wonderful landfills will be placed?  What happens to all the toxins that are burried underground?  What can you possibly be doing to generate 10 bags of trash/week?  B/c you are probably young and foolish, I will not bother educating you on on the finer points as to why you should rethink your decisions.  Here's an interesting little movie that may help you.  www.thestoryofstuff.com

You sound like a rebel, I hope you find the right cause for yourself and the planet.

bb

Answer 6

I am assuming you are throwing out trash in plastic bags. The only reason everyone is worried about how much trash people throw away is that "plastic" takes about 100 years to decay in the ground.

If you throw your trash out in paper bags, there would be less concern.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

jersey is a huge landfill... well if you are worried about that then you should stop buying individually wrapped things  and make sure that they are biodegradable.

Answer 8

I can only assume that this is not a serious question. A lot of the trash that we throw away does not biodegrade - meaning it will sit in that landfill for years and years. And those products that do break down can send dangerous chemicals through the soil and into the aquifer, where much of our drinking water comes from. Not to mention the bacteria from rotting food, the growing demand for real estate in the country and the fact that, if the country gets overrun with garbage, we can't just make a new one.

Answer 9

Its not that big of a world

Answer 10

Yeah, we'll make a new one on your house. Space is limited. It is only fair that the people who do not want to cut back their trash consumption should house the trash. Thanks for the offer!

Answer 11

You seem to use common sense. Too bad we can't send all the environmental loons to Mars where maybe they can be happy. Next week dump 20 bags in the trash you might as well get your money's worth from you local garbage collector.

Answer 12

exactly and then the world will just be a huge landfill!!!!

Answer 13

well if every threw away 10 bags aof trash a week u r house would be madeout of trash  RECYCLE  ur junk!! annnd you waould run out of room in the world

!!

Answer 14

Are you crazy? Think of it like this, if you keep throwing all that trash away, the landfill will eventually be right in your back yard!!  I live less than a mile from a landfill. Have you ever drove by one....looks like a HUGE hill and omg the smell of it. It is so awful makes me want to be sick everytime I drive by. If the wind blows just right I can sit on my front porch and smell it.  We will eventually overload the earth with all of our trash and then what??