Landfills In America Essay

Recycle Across America reports that if the United States reaches recycling levels of 75% it will be the equivalent of removing 55 million cars from United States’ roads. They also report that if these recycling levels can be reached, over one million jobs will appear throughout the United States. If recycling can have such a positive outcome, why aren’t more Americans taking part in this ecofriendly system? Enjoining in the habit of recycling will not only save our communities, but also the planet. By reducing the amount of waste produced in households in the United States, we can generate jobs, boost the economy, and save our environment.

Americans generate large amounts of waste every day. I Want to be Recycled reported that Americas generate

Placing our trash into the Earth’s oceans or burning the trash into the air is the alternative. However, if we take the time to recycle we can prevent that from reoccurring. The EPA considers landfills as an effective alternative, yet, instead of planting food for people, building homes for those in need, or building schools to educate the young--we are using that land as a trash burial site. A majority of the items that are sent to landfills are not biodegradable, meaning it cannot decompose into the ground to help produce plants. Landfills are not the only places where trash is dumped in harmful places. Ocean dumping is when ships, carrying tons of trash, dump that waste into the ocean/. This is an ocean act that protects what goes into our water, yet in my opinion, no trash should be dumped into our oceans. This trash pollutes our water, killing marine life and can affect the people around the water. Just because the trash is dumped further away from the shore, tides and currents can still bring the trash or polluted water back to the shore. We see people on the side of the road, picking up the trash. That is an amazing thing, however, that time and effort could be wasted. If those people pick up the trash and throw it into garbage cans, it is most likely that trash is going to be send to a landfill, the ocean, or to be burned into our air.