Tag: landfill
Styrofoam is actually a genericized brand name for the actual material called polystyrene. Polystyrene containers do have a #6 recycle symbol in it, but very few recycling centers accept it.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency and the conversation.com, more paper is recovered from the municipal solid waste stream than glass, plastic, steel and aluminum combined by weight.
Shoes are made from a combination of vinyl, leather, plastic and a host of other materials and take anywhere from 25-40 years to decompose in a landfill. This length of time paired with the estimated 300 million pairs of shoes discarded each year means that landfills are inundated with shoes.
Methane, a flammable greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide for having the potential of causing or continuing global warming, is created by rotting food disposed in a landfill as it decomposes.
Every day in the United States there are thousands of events that create an enormous amount of waste. Zero Waste programs targets this waste by reducing packaging, avoiding single-serve items, and providing compostable ware and compost service to all event goers.
We recycle cardboard and plastics but what do we do with the hybrid versions that contain both?
Plastic bags are lightweight, strong, convenient alternatives to paper grocery bags. People seem to prefer them to paper bags because they have handles, are easy to store and reusable for many purposes.
Flexibility and resistance to condensation also make plastic bags a more attractive choice. Why would these popular helps to society be banned?
The holidays mark days of family, friends, gift-giving and reflecting on all of the wonderful things we have in our lives. One of these things is an overabundance of food.
Along with the wonderful time spent with special people comes a lot of trash....to the tune of about 1 million tons per week between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.
Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons all add up to an estimated increase in household trash of about 25 percent.