The United States is responsible for a disproportionate amount of the total consumption of key products and materials. We use one-third of the worlds' paper, even though we represent only five percent of the population. We also use twenty-five percent of the oil, twenty-three percent of the coal, twenty-seven percent of the aluminum and nineteen percent of the copper. (Brower and Leon, 1999, 5) Even when compared with other wealthy industrial countries we come out on top. The average American consumes twice as much fossil fuel (coal, oil and natural gas) as the average citizen of England and two and a half times more than the average Japanese. When it comes to waste, the numbers worsen. Americans discard nearly a ton of trash per person, per year. This number is two to three times the amount the average European produces.
Where does my trash go?
Garbage is something that humans have always produced and have always needed to get rid of. Americans produce more trash than we know what to do with. Garbage is often dumped, burned or recycled. We are a wasteful society with nearly 200 million tons of waste produced each year. Consumers throw away enough tires to encircle the Earth three times, ten million computers and one point six billion ball point pens.
Some of these findings were a result of a garbage analysis done in the early 1970's. (Tammemagi, 1999, 63) This analysis, known as 'The Garbage Project' excavated and cataloged the contents of eleven United States landfills. Through the exploration we learned that municipal garbage generally consists of the following components. Fifty percent of the waste is paper, including packaging, newspapers, telephone books, magazines and catalogues. Paper, which we investigated earlier, is almost one hundred percent cellulose, a carbohydrate that is highly combustible. Nineteen percent of the landfills consist of miscellaneous items like construction and demolition debris, tires, textiles, rubber and disposable diapers. Thirteen percent is made of organic materials like wood, yard waste and food scraps. Ten percent of the waste consists of plastics, including milk jugs, soda bottles, food packaging, garbage bags and polystyrene foam. Six percent of the waste consists of metals including iron as well as aluminum and steel food and beverage cans while there was one percent glass made up of beverage bottles, food containers and cosmetic jars and one percent hazardous materials like pesticides and household cleaners (Tammemagi, 1999, 63-67)
Based on these findings, a large fraction of the landfills contents is potentially recyclable since one half of the landfill consists of paper. The single most abundant item is newspapers, which comprise of about eighteen percent of landfill space, while eight percent of the total landfill volume consists of disposable diapers. Sixteen percent of municipal landfills also account for the co-disposal of sludge from sewage treatment plants, which in some cases can be used for fertilizer or fuel. (Tammemagi, 1999, 63-67).
