|
Another reason for recycling: we're running out of space to put the trash.
In California, landfills have been filling up too quickly with trash, and it's difficult to build new ones because nobody wants them in their neighborhood. So aside from waste, we have to recycle to avoid being buried in trash.
Last year, I had a tour of a world-class recycling operation at the regional landfill for Monterey, CA. The local garbage haulers handled had already diverted the paper, plastic, and cans for recycling, and the domestic greenwaste. The landfill operators found ways to recycle all the commercial waste and stuff which is hauled directly to the landfill by private parties, which is actually the majority of the waste.
*All yard waste and wood that came in -- uprooted trees, construction waste, demolition scrap, etc. -- was chipped or composted and sold as mulch, topsoil, potting soil, decorative woodchips, or firewood. A lot of it went directly to a commercial composter down the road.
*All concrete waste that came in from demolition jobs was separated and crushed at intervals, then sold to the state as gravel and sand for use in road construction and repaving, and in landscaping. There was a huge pile of it.
*All usable items were diverted to an onsite thrift store (which, we were told, more than paid for itself)
*The garbage that gets through the process and actually goes into the landfill, generates electricity. The landfill is plastic lined with plastic pipes embedded in it at different heights (layer by layer as the landfill builds up). Methane gas generated by decomposition goes into the pipes and to a generator station which generates enough electricity to power all activities at the landfill and 3000 homes besides: they sell the excess to the local power utility.
So, besides the recycling that we all know, there is other recycling that can and should take place at the regional level, and this should be promoted nationwide to reduce the growth of landfills.
|