I think this article was very important. Information about the huge amounts garbage we produce a day (50,000 tons) is a topic widely ignored. One thing the article talks about is the fact that we are running out of places to put our large amounts of garbage. Furthermore, this article is only from the perspective of New York City; I can only imagine the repercussions of our garbage on a state, national, or global scale.
From this article, the most important issue we need to address is not where we should put the garbage,but how to reduce it. The article briefly discusses the need for stricter legislation on the topic, however, I think it is more important to increase the availability of different options. For instance, if there are 25,000 waste bins placed in the city, there should be 25,000 recycle bins and 25,000 compost bins (each with signs of what garbage goes where). It should also be established that all places that serve food have their own individual compost bins or at least a community compost bin that they can throw out their food. (Ideally, I would rather have them distribute the food to those who can’t afford it, but that is a different issue). I also believe that we should encourage recycle so much so that we would not need to produce new plastic. I think we have more than enough plastic already produced that we shouldn’t have to do that.
If we change our garbage cultures, we can very effectively make great reductions. One suggestion could be to change our garbage day. Instead of having every home/business owner have their own garbage put out for the sanitation workers, they can put them in large garbage spaces (separated by compost, recycle and waste)and have the garbage men pick them up from there. Those who don’t comply can get fined as usual.
When looking at cleaning up our environment, waste management is often something we look over and don’t really think about. Waste management is just as prevalent as our resource management and our pollution problem. Something as simple as our garbage can have a huge effect on us and we need to be more mindful of it. Many of us, including myself, are guilty of the “out of sight, out of mind” phenomenon and we should address it.
