Although we are an ordinary dumpster rental company who will recycle, we are hopeful that the people of Earth can get a handle on the waste we produce. But we have a long way to go. It is crucial that Earthlings come up with a better solution to waste management than digging a hole in the ground and burying it.
According to an EPA study, in 2010 Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and only recycled and composted some 34.1 percent of it.
In Ann Arbor alone, residents recycled 12,268 tons of waste in 2012, according to this report.
The amount of waste sent to Michigan landfills jumped by 4.7% in 2014, following a ten-year decline, according to this article, and Michiganders send $435 million of recyclable materials to the dump each year.
How Can You and Your Family Get Involved?
- Be a Real Recycler. As homeowners, we know it can be tough to recycle everything, but with a proper system in place, it can become easy. Once you put in place a system of recycling for your family, it will become simple and routine to follow that system and recycle.
- Re-Use Plastic Reclosable Storage Bags. Don’t be a one-use family! Those plastic bags are made to last forever. Instead of using them once and considering them dirty and tossing them out, embrace the cost-saving idea that one box of reclosable bags can last months.
- Compost. Food waste becomes great soil. If you are not using it, your neighborhood community garden may want it.
- Purchase Less Packaging. Fruits and vegetables have a natural wrapping. They do not need to be put on plastic and wrapped in cellophane.
Earth Day starts with us, and needs to last all year long. All of us contribute to waste and therefore the need for sustainable waste management. For America to get where we need to go, it is going to take all of us buying into a system that works.