Maspeth, NY 718-416-1656
It happens each week: The day we need to put out the garbage cans
to the curb for it to be collected and the garbage truck drives away. But where
does it all go?
A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology decided to find out where it all went. In 2009, they began attaching
transmitter chips to thousands of pieces of garbage. They tossed into it the
garbage bin and followed the path that our garbage takes: the meanderings of
electronic waste as it headed for distant shores, of ratty old sneakers that
ran the equivalent of a dozen marathons, of printer cartridges that traversed
the continent not once but twice on the road to recycling (online.wsj.com).
This experiment brought to the forefront the secret about
our garbage: how much we produce, what it contains and where it goes when it
leaves our bins.
The official trash tally for the average American shows that
we toss out 4.4 pounds of trash each day, with about a third being recycled and
the rest going to landfills. But the most recent survey conducted by Columbia
University and the trade journal BioCycle shows that we throw out 7.1 pounds a
day, and a quarter of that gets recycled (online.wsj.com).
At this staggering amount of trash on a daily basis, we are
on track to produce 102 tons of waste over our lifetime.
The best way to reduce trash in the first place is to waste
less. Try to avoid disposable plastic bags or bottled water, and buy used
electronics. Also consider when you are buying something if you will use it for
years to come or if it will be thrown out in a few months. Anything you can do
to help avoid the piling up of garbage will be helpful in the long run.
If you have any
questions regarding your garbage or recycling issues, please call us at
718-416-1656 and we can assist you in the best way possible!
To read the full article featured in The Wall Street Journal, click HERE.
