“The Hidden
Life of Garbage” discusses the waste disposal in the U.S. And how dangerous
it’s getting. Land dumping has been the primary disposal method for many years
because of the low cost. Land dumping is when the waste is dumped into a
landfill. A landfill is a carefully designed structure built into or on top of
the ground in which trash is isolated from the surrounding environment. This
isolation is accomplished with a bottom liner and daily covering of soil. A
sanitary landfill uses a clay liner to isolate the trash from the environment.
Although the methods of waste disposal have improved over time, getting rid of
garbage is quickly becoming a big problem because our methods of waste disposal
are only a temporary solution. The waste that cannot decompose naturally, just
sits there and begins to build up. Incineration is another method used in waste
disposal, however, this poses another problem because it fills the air we
breath with dense smoke, which is toxic to our environment. The composition
also talks about how the major waste disposal corporations try to keep the
problem hidden from the general public. They keep it hidden because it would
cause problems for the corporation if the people actually knew what was
happening.”If people saw what happened to their waste, lived with the stench,
witnessed the scale of destruction, they might start asking difficult
questions” (Rogers 189), trash, waste, rubble, junk, whatever you may call it,
we all have it. The average American produces about 4.5 pounds of it everyday. The United States makes
more garbage than any other country on the planet. We have 5% of the people on
Earth, but make almost 1/3 of all the world’s garbage. It’s not a pretty
subject and it’s a topic which most people tend to avoid. Once it’s out their
door and into their trash cans, people could care less. I fully agree with
Heather Rogers, if people actually saw where their waste is going and how it is
affecting our environment, they would probably be horrified. Even with the
improvements we’ve made, the waste disposal methods aren’t enough. “The
more state-of-the-art, the more ‘environmentally responsible ‘ the operation,
the more repressed question pushes to the surface: what if we didn’t have so
much trash to get rid of?” (Rogers 191). Personally, I have always been a big
advocate of recycling and repurposing. Through my volunteer work, I saw first
hand what our large amount waste is doing to our planet and decided to make a
change. Plastic is the biggest contributor to the amount of waste we have,
because it takes about 500 years
to decompose in a landfill. For this reason, I always try to use a
refillable canteen (BPA free) instead of plastic water bottles, and I don’t use
paper plates, cups, or utensils. I also try to use fabric grocery bags instead
of plastic ones. By making little changes such as these, our waste output would
drastically lessen, and reduce the amount of toxins in our environment. I also
think that everyone should read Heather Rogers’ “The Hidden Life of Garbage” to
help people become aware of this problem and encourage them to make a change.
