Pros And Cons Of Updating America

Policy Analysis: Updating America’s Solid Waste Removal Infrastructure

America’s current solid waste removal infrastructure is outdated and incentivizes unsustainable practices. 53% of the municipal solid waste Americans produce is deposited in landfills, 75% of which could be recycled and reused. This excess waste releases greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere that will ultimately impact the health and wellbeing of every living thing if more sustainable practices are not implemented. In this analysis, I will explore previous and current federal waste removal policy. I will analyze alternative solutions; weighing the pros and cons of each. Finally, I will provide a recommendation for the best course of action for updating America’s waste

53% of this waste is deposited in landfills, 34.6% is recycled and 12.8% is combusted for energy production. Additionally, United States generates roughly 4.4 pounds of waste per person per day, more than European countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom which each generate around two to three pounds per person per day. Of the waste that is deposited in landfills, 75% could be recycled and used as valuable resources. Instead, the waste in landfills emits methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than CO2. While we have made efforts to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses over the past few years, we have not done enough to truly make an impact on reducing these gases. Scientists predict greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere will continue to increase unless the billions of tons of our annual emissions decrease substantially. The effects of the increased emissions have been well documented, with a 37% increase in the warming effect from greenhouse gases added by humans to the Earth's atmosphere. This has caused droughts, flooding, extreme weather

The Act largely focused on the development of waste management plans, and research and training on waste disposal practices. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), an amendment to the Solid Waste Disposal Act, shifted the focus from efficient disposal to the reclamation of energy and reuse of waste. However, the Act provides more federal authority for the regulation and management of hazardous waste, leaving the regulation and management of non-hazardous waste to individual states. Solid waste management is addressed in more detail in Subtitle D of the RCRA although the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority is limited. Subtitle D includes provisions for state and local governments to receive financial and technical assistance to update waste removal infrastructure. Due to budget cuts, this assistance ended in