Climate change, air and water pollution, the energy crisis, and the loss of land resources, are all serious issues affecting the world today. There are so many important issues that one can become overwhelmed. Individuals would find it helpful if they could chose just one issue to work on, and even more helpful if that one thing would help to mitagate more than one problem; But what? Many people are unaware that simply reducing the amount of solid waste entering landfills helps to mitigate climate change, lesson water and air pollution, preserve energy resources, save land resources, and boost the economy all in one full swoop without sacrificing convenience or money.

There are more than 300 million people living in the United States produceing “an average of 4.4lbs of solid waste per day” (Berg & L.R., 2007, p. 387). That is over 241 million tons of municipal solid waste each year. Fortunately, over 30% of this waste is recycled. However, more than 55% of the solid waste produced still ends up in sanitary landfills. Sanitary landfills compact the waste, place it in a hole protected by compacted clay and plastic sheets, then bury it. If people chose to create landfills in their yards to handle their waste, the hole in the yard would need to be dug deep enough to hold over 1,600 pounds of waste each year multiplied by the number of individuals living in the home. However, it is safe to assume that if invididuals were responsible for their own waste, they would certainly find ways to reduce the amount of waste produced in the first place. Likewise, due to how close the living quarters would be to the private landfill, individuals would also be more selective about the types of toxic materials permitted in the backyard hole.

Unfortunately, many Americans do not consider the solid waste that continues to accumulate in America’s backyard. The out of sight out of mind pricipal applies when the garbage truck takes the garbage away from the person producing it. However, the waste will continue to wreak havoc on the planet and all who depend on the planet’s survival long after the original producer has biodegraded him or herself. For example, the first diaper placed on a newborn’s behind will exist in a landfill for about 500 years. Long enough for the newborn’s great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandchild to discover (assuming a child is born every 25 years).

Landfills are dangerous and are not sustainable. Landfills produce methane, a greenhouse gas known to contribute to global warming. Furthermore, the protective layers used in sanitary landfills are not sustainable—the protective lining is known to leak. Landfill pollution seaps into the air and water where it eventually finds itself in the life sustaining veins of plants, animals and humans. Additionally, this huge source of energy and consumable goods is buried in the ground—wasted—while Americans frantically seek fuels to generate more energy and continue to mine the land for more consumable resources. This frantic search for fuel and consumables generates even more air, land and water pollution in addition to wars, recessions, and the degragation of pressicous ecosystems. Ironically, much of the solid waste in landfills contains valuable fuel for energy production and sources for creating new products. More obviously, there is not enough land to manage all the waste generated by today’s society. As Micheal Valenti (1992) stated, “America's landfills are living up to their name: they fill up with trash and then have to be closed” (para. 2). Therefore, waste reduction and reclemation is the fastest, safest, and most economical way to help save air, land and water resources without comprimising convenience. With less waste, the need for more landfills ceases.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2006) stated, “landfills are the second largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for nearly 23 percent of these emissions in 2006” (para. 7). Municipal solid waste includes residential and commercial solid waste such as paper, glass, metals, plastics, food, and yard waste. Municipal solid waste landfills account for about 88% of the total solid waste generated in the United States (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2006). On a good note, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2006) reported that from 1990 to 2006 emissions from landfills decreased by about 16%, even though solid waste entering the landfills increased by 47%. The decrease in emissions occurred because more landfill owners began collecting and combusting the methane gas for gas-to-energy projects or flares (para. 4). Nevertheless, as the population grows the amount of waste production grows. There will always be waste available for gas-to-energy projects and as these projects become widespread, climate changing emissions from coal and oil energy sources will decrease as well. However, accumulating garbage will continue to threaten land and water resources if the amount of waste produced does not decrease.

A growing population does not have to equate to a greater amount of waste. With individual, community, commercial business, and government cooperation, waste prevention plans not only decrease the amount of waste entering landfills, but also save money and increase profits thereby boosting the economy. Even though commercial businesses produce the most municipal solid waste, waste prevention begins with individuals. The more consumers demand wasteless products in wasteless packaging i.e. source reduction; the sooner commercial businesses will adjust to these demands and reduce their waste production. Catherine Marenghi explained, “[s]ource reduction slows the depletion of natural resources while prolonging the useful life of landfills and the entire waste management infrastructure” (para. 4). Additionally, individuals must vote in such a way that lets the government know that waste is a serious issue that requires increased government involvement. For example, the government should not send subsidies to unsustainable businesses that continue to harm the environment. Instead, government subsidies should go to businesses that work toward waste reduction in environmentally sustainable ways; i.e. stop funding logging companies and start funding paper-recycling plants. Finally, individuals are responsible for ensuring local communities work together to incorporate waste prevention plans. Community composting, recycling, and even yard sales help to ensure waste stays out of landfills. Every little bit helps, but together, individual, community, commercial, and government action can implement a zero waste policy that eventually will place the traditional landfill into the history books alongside the now illegal open garbage dumps of the past.

Waste prevention plans define ways to consume and throw away less. For example, buying reusable instead of disposable goods means only having to pay once for a product and not throwing it away until its useful life has expired rather than paying for and disposing of the same product repeatedly. Since plastics account for almost 11% of municipal solid waste, cutting out disposable goods would make quite an impact. Waste prevention also means purchasing products that use environmentally friendly packaging rather than products delivered in excess packaging that is not free of toxics. Currently, paper and paperboard make up 37.4% of the total municipal solid waste in landfills; and packaging is a huge part of the reason. Waste prevention plans also address ways to prevent true waste from entering landfills. For example, composting yard, animal, and food waste, which currently accounts for over 23% of the total municipal solid waste in landfills, provides free nutrient rich compost. Conversely, burying food, yard, and animal waste in a landfill prevents it from receiving oxygen and therefore produces methane instead of compost. Obviously, there are many more steps required to reach a goal of zero waste; however, if these steps alone reduced paper, paperboard, plastic, yard, food, and animal waste in landfills by only 50% then 59.9% of the total municipal landfill waste would cease to exist.

Individual waste prevention helps, but community or nationwide involvement helps even more. Nevertheless, regardless how simple waste prevention is, there are challenges to obtaining full community or nationwide involvement. Slothfulness and the lack of education, resources, and government subsidies, have all played a part in preventing waste reduction from reaching its full potential. However, a Pay-as-You-Throw (PAYT) program is already proving to motivate more residents to reduce waste in over 6,000 communities across the nation (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2007). The Pay-as-You Throw program requires residents to pay for trash disposal by the number of containers or the weight of trash thrown away. The PAYT program encourages residents to follow the Three Rs (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) by encouraging residents to reduce how much garbage is set on the curb for landfill delivery. Additionally, the PAYT program generates more funds for the community to use for valuable services while saving money on overall waste management. The EPA provides several resources to assist communities in developing a successful Pay-as-You-Throw program. The following plan makes use of these resources for starting a community waste reduction effort.

Community Pay-as-You-Throw Waste Reduction Plan
PAYT Action Items	PAYT Action Steps	PAYT Timeline
Download and order all available materials on PAYT from the EPA	Visit: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/payt/tools/pubs.htm Order, download, and review all available materials.	Day 1
Research and identify existing trash disposal options.	Locate and identify all local: · Recyclable collection facilities · Compost facilities · Landfills · Waste pickup services. Determine the types of goods received and in what form the goods should be in upon delivery or pickup.	Week 1-2

Contact waste management agencies.	Contact local landfills, recyclable, and waste pickup services. Find out whether a PAYT system is already available or if they are interested in discussing the implementation of one for the community.	Week 3
Research waste management issues within the community.	Contact existing pickup services and find out how much waste is currently picked up within the community. Discuss waste disposal issues with friends and neighbors.	Week 4
Develop fact sheets and a formal presentation.	Create fact sheets that explain the current problems caused by municipal solid waste. Create fact sheets that show how much solid waste reduction will help. Create fact sheets detailing how much the community currently spends on solid waste removal. Develop a presentation that explains the above in more detail and describes the benefits of a PAYT system.	Week 5-9
Schedule a presentation	Contact the board of directors to schedule time for the presentation at the next town meeting.	Week 9
Invite members of the community to the town meeting.	Create flyers that summarize the problem and proposed solution while requesting attendance at the next town meeting. Encourage friends and neighbors to assist with handing out the flyers. If funding is available, create postcards to be distributed to every address in the community using bulk-mailing options.	Week 10-11
Give Presentation	Attend the town meeting and give the presentation. Request implementation of PAYT program	Presentation Day
Follow-up	Continue contacting community members and leaders to ensure the plan is not forgotten and to volunteer in areas that require assistance.	Presentation Day – Successful Implementation

A successful PAYT program effectively promotes environmental sustainability through waste reduction and recycling; economic stability, because the revenues from PAYT cover the cost of services while providing additional funds for other community projects; and equity, due to the fairness of fee collection. Some communities fear a PAYT program would create more problems with illegal dumping. However, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2007), “most PAYT communities have found this not to be the case” especially if composting, recycling, and yard waste facilities are available (para. 9). Concerns for low-income households also present a challenge. However, through coupon and voucher programs, the issue is easily resolved. The environmental, economical, and equity benefits of a PAYT program greatly overshadow the challenges. Even though research and restructuring take time and effort, once the PAYT program is in place, the overall community, individual residents, and the planet, will reap the rewards.

Municipal solid waste is a serious environmental problem that affects air, land, and water resources in dangerous global proportions. Humans are the largest contributors to the problem and therefore solely responsible for enacting solutions. Thus far, reclamation of waste for recycling and converting to energy has proven to help mitigate some of the problems solid waste present. Nevertheless, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2007), “the amount of waste each person creates has almost doubled from 2.7 to 4.4 pounds per day in the last 35 years [and] the most effective way to stop this trend is to prevent waste in the first place” (para. 1). Encouraging commercial businesses to practice package reduction, analyzing trash to determine if it is recyclable and composting animal, food, and yard waste, are all simple actions one can take to help reduce the amount of garbage sent to landfills. Finally, to ensure large-scale participation, individuals should encourage community leaders to implement programs such as Pay-as-You-Throw. After all, waste reduction is the fastest and most efficient way to reclaim America’s backyard.

References:

Berg, Hager., & L.R., M.C. (2007). Visualizing Environmental Science. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Marenghi, C. (June 1992). Less is more: stopping packaging waste at the source. Management Review, 81, n6. p.18(6). Retrieved May 16, 2008, from General OneFile via Gale:
http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2006). Inventory of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and sinks: 1990–2006. Retrieved May 6, 2008, from http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads/08_Waste.pdf

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2006). Methane: Sources and emissions. Retrieved May 6, 2008, from http://www.epa.gov/methane/sources.html

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2007). Pay as you throw. Retrieved May 6, 2008, from http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/payt/tools/public.htm

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2007). Source reduction and reuse. Retrieved May 6, 2008, from http://www.epa.gov/garbage/sourcred.htm

Valenti, M. (Jan 1992). Tapping landfills for energy. Mechanical Engineering-CIME, 114, n1. p.44(4). Retrieved May 16, 2008, from General OneFile via Gale:
http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS