Landfills Effects On The Environment

The common person does not consider recycling to be a world changing topic, but if an additional amount people took a part in it; recycling could completely change the world. Landfills are a big problem, although most people do not consider them to be such. Landfills can harm the environment, and all the waste collected each day can add up to create the aforementioned big problem. Recycling can solve this problem; when an increased amount of people recycle waste production reduces, and the environment benefits from this. More people should recycle because recycling reduces landfills effects on the world. Landfills are overflowing with waste, and this waste just multiplies up with the trash collection occurring daily. On average, most people

Landfills contain electronic waste, and this waste can produce toxins which can leak into groundwater and become an environmental hazard (Environment Victoria). These leaks are hard to contain once they start, because water can spread quickly and vastly, and even though most leakages are controlled once a single one gets out it can be detrimental to the environment. Landfill also produce leachate, which is a substance that is created when waste breaks down and water filters through it (Environment Victoria). The leakage of leachate is monitored, but just one small leak can be awful for the environment, just like the leakage of toxins. Greenhouse gases are also produced in landfills, and these greenhouse gases harm the atmosphere, and when greenhouse gases are present the waste breaks down anaerobically, which can in turn produce methane (Environment Victoria). Methane is a highly dangerous gas, and since it is a gas it can travel rapidly and affect not only the environment but a person's health as well. Landfills are not only a problem for people but for the environment due to the amount of waste being produced from the waste just staying in one

The United States generated about 258 million tons of municipal waste in 2014, and over 89 million tons of this waste was recycled (EPA). These statistics show how much waste can be saved and put to good use just from simply recycling paper, plastic, and metal. However, the recycling rate can be improved in order to get more waste out of landfills and used for a more productive reason, like creating things from all the recycled goods. This 89 million tons of recycled waste also contributed to the reduction of of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (EPA). This shows how recycling can help solve the problem of pollution created by landfills. Recycling can also reduce the amount of money going to landfills, in Davenport Iowa for instance, the large amount of recycling now going to recycling centers and opposed to landfills help save money and this money can in turn be given to advance the recycling program (Tibbetts). These facts show how increased recycling rates can overall help solve the problems created by landfills. However, the question that remains is how to actually encourage recycling enough to make the savings significant enough to actually make a