The growing amount of solid wastes in our society is becoming a constant threat to the environment and to our health. On Shangri-la, we’re going to face this problem alongside the rest of the world. There are many things that can be done to control solid wastes in our Shangri-la community. There’s prevention & reduction, recycling & reusing, composting, incineration, throwing wastes in a landfill, and converting wastes to energy.
Prevention and reduction is a process that involves people only buying what they need and know what they would use. This type of controlling solid wastes involves all types of wastes but usually packaging and food. It’s a good way to save money by not buying extra stuff that you wouldn’t need or eat, but everyone has to contribute which makes it a hard way to control solid wastes. It can help the environment by lowering the amount of trash to be taken care of and it only costs what you are willing to spend.
Recycling and reusing involves taking used items and making them into something new. You can recycle paper/cardboard, metals, glass, plastics, electronics, batteries, light bulbs, polystyrene, and plastic grocery bags. Recycling enables us to converse as much as possible, saves us energy, and it reduces pollution to the environment. The downside of recycling is that you can only recycle specific types of glass, metals, ect, and food can’t be recycled. Also picking up recyclable materials costs $147 per ton.
Composting means letting organic food sit out and letting the environment decompose it naturally. Many things can be composted. Fruits, vegetables, grains, coffee grounds, grass & flower clippings, leaves, and weeds among other things can be composted. You can take that composted food and put it into gardens as a natural fertilizer. You can also use that composted food as a form of energy which will be described later on. The process does take a long time, but you can speed it up by making composting bins and using a pitch fork and flipping the organic trash over every two weeks which takes a lot of work. The process of composting is natural, so, therefore, it is free.
Incineration is a way of getting rid of solid wastes by burning them. Burning is a clean and efficient way of getting rid of solid wastes. They have different plants for different wastes. They use a system of air vents to keep out the smell of burning wastes, metals are sent to certain plants to be recycled, and the excess ash is sent to landfills. The downside is that the ash can contain substances like dioxins and heavy metals which are hard to destroy plus the process is done by machinery which is never truly reliable. The pollution given off by burning the wastes are cleaned before being put back into the environment which helps our atmosphere, but other substances such as the ash, flue gases, and other incineration can be harmful to the environment.
Landfills are used as reserved areas of land for dumping trash on. Landfills aren’t as dirty as they sound. There is a large tarp that separates the trash from the lands so that the ground and our groundwater don’t get contaminated and so that the land doesn’t get eroded away. The tarp, though, is very expensive, and if it rips without anyone knowing then the land and groundwater would be contaminated. Landfills take in any type of solid wastes including organic food. The food that decomposes becomes a source of renewable energy which will be explained later. Landfills are very smelly, but they have a good source of income. It takes $88 per ton to collect and dump trash in a landfill, and, let’s face it, there’s always going to be trash that needs to be collected and dumped somewhere. There is also a system of pipes and layers of soil and fabrics under the landfill that helps protect the environment and to keep away the smell.
We can take some of these tactics and use them to make renewable energy. One way is food to gas energy. When food decomposes, it gives off methane gas. This gas alone can be enough to provide enough energy for 400,000 homes and it helps save oil. The gas is collected in the system of pipes under landfills which is then later converted to energy. Another way is incineration. Burning the wastes gives off energy which we can harness and use. Using these environmental friendly ways of getting energy is offsetting almost two million tons of coal per year which is reducing the amount of emissions into the atmosphere.
Prevention and reduction is a process that involves people only buying what they need and know what they would use. This type of controlling solid wastes involves all types of wastes but usually packaging and food. It’s a good way to save money by not buying extra stuff that you wouldn’t need or eat, but everyone has to contribute which makes it a hard way to control solid wastes. It can help the environment by lowering the amount of trash to be taken care of and it only costs what you are willing to spend.
Recycling and reusing involves taking used items and making them into something new. You can recycle paper/cardboard, metals, glass, plastics, electronics, batteries, light bulbs, polystyrene, and plastic grocery bags. Recycling enables us to converse as much as possible, saves us energy, and it reduces pollution to the environment. The downside of recycling is that you can only recycle specific types of glass, metals, ect, and food can’t be recycled. Also picking up recyclable materials costs $147 per ton.
Composting means letting organic food sit out and letting the environment decompose it naturally. Many things can be composted. Fruits, vegetables, grains, coffee grounds, grass & flower clippings, leaves, and weeds among other things can be composted. You can take that composted food and put it into gardens as a natural fertilizer. You can also use that composted food as a form of energy which will be described later on. The process does take a long time, but you can speed it up by making composting bins and using a pitch fork and flipping the organic trash over every two weeks which takes a lot of work. The process of composting is natural, so, therefore, it is free.
Incineration is a way of getting rid of solid wastes by burning them. Burning is a clean and efficient way of getting rid of solid wastes. They have different plants for different wastes. They use a system of air vents to keep out the smell of burning wastes, metals are sent to certain plants to be recycled, and the excess ash is sent to landfills. The downside is that the ash can contain substances like dioxins and heavy metals which are hard to destroy plus the process is done by machinery which is never truly reliable. The pollution given off by burning the wastes are cleaned before being put back into the environment which helps our atmosphere, but other substances such as the ash, flue gases, and other incineration can be harmful to the environment.
Landfills are used as reserved areas of land for dumping trash on. Landfills aren’t as dirty as they sound. There is a large tarp that separates the trash from the lands so that the ground and our groundwater don’t get contaminated and so that the land doesn’t get eroded away. The tarp, though, is very expensive, and if it rips without anyone knowing then the land and groundwater would be contaminated. Landfills take in any type of solid wastes including organic food. The food that decomposes becomes a source of renewable energy which will be explained later. Landfills are very smelly, but they have a good source of income. It takes $88 per ton to collect and dump trash in a landfill, and, let’s face it, there’s always going to be trash that needs to be collected and dumped somewhere. There is also a system of pipes and layers of soil and fabrics under the landfill that helps protect the environment and to keep away the smell.
We can take some of these tactics and use them to make renewable energy. One way is food to gas energy. When food decomposes, it gives off methane gas. This gas alone can be enough to provide enough energy for 400,000 homes and it helps save oil. The gas is collected in the system of pipes under landfills which is then later converted to energy. Another way is incineration. Burning the wastes gives off energy which we can harness and use. Using these environmental friendly ways of getting energy is offsetting almost two million tons of coal per year which is reducing the amount of emissions into the atmosphere.
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