From the last three decades, recycling is not an option anymore and now onwards landfill is not a sustainable solution for the environment in the United States. These recycling and landfill excessively increase by china’s National sword policy introduced in January 2018 in the United States.
Although, one thing that might happen with this kind of fallout or the trickle-down effect of the China National sword policy 2018, that was some of these plastics the right now doesn’t have a home and they don’t have an end market or an end-user for it. There may be companies to become a little bit more tough as to how to use some of these other plastics because of those markets disappearing that we got this plastic.
Rumpke Sanitary Landfill, Education Specialist, Anne Gray Said, “Kentucky’s plastic waste it does not differ that much from Ohio or Indiana or West Virginia that states that we are a presence. She thinks we can all do a better job may be cut down plastic waste or plastic we use.”
Obviously, Rumpke Recycling wants people to recycle plastic. But, Anne Gray reasons, “Sometimes it’s just a change in habit for shopping and we know that a lot of times money talks.” So, when people go to the grocery store, it might be a good idea to evaluate the packaging and try to decide what might be the most environmentally sound good to purchase. When you think about 3R’s that Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The most important one reduces that’s what we try to talk to people about their buying habits and what they are using single-use products. We try to be a little bit more responsible about what actually been purchased than reuse. A lot of times when Anne Gray talks to students they talk about some examples like they understand that the glass pickle jar can be washed out and can be a pencil holder or vase. When they start to be thinking about that it makes sense to them.
Anne Gray says, “In reality, when people consider that organic waste will be fine in plastic bags to throw away in the trash then it’s the biggest mistake. This is so problematic when this all trash comes in Material Recovery Facility (MRF).” Because in conveyer belt that stuff jammed in and hard to get rid of the process. Sometimes it gave cost to machinery which is rolling through belts.
Recycling Express Company at Florence, President, Chris Eubanks said, “We are recycling here because it will help Municipal solid waste find more place to go in the landfill, less fill up through industrial waste.” Recycling Express company recycles industrial plastic and make car battery covers and produces pallets to manufacturing plastic companies. Also, their one of the workers from Recycling Express company, Will Harrison, “It’s no profit no loss in industrial waste recycling, but we are trying to reduce waste which goes in landfill through recycling it.”
Due to not having a good price in the market when we are selling pallets to related manufactures, the price goes up after china’s ban on 24 types of plastic. Nobody denied the fact that China is the biggest partner for trash collecting and recycling it. But now they won’t be polluted much from countries one who sent them.
By the time most of the plastic that has ever been created 79% has really finished in landfills or spread far and wide or consumed, however not refashioned into new items. For plastic packs, it’s under 1% of several billion that are utilized in the U.S. alone. Thus, in general in the U.S., our plastic reusing rate topped in 2014 at 9.5% with the goal that’s under 10%.
Notably, the landfill produces landfill gas and its third handmade greenhouse gas by humans. The methane (CH4) and the carbon dioxide (CO2) found in a 60-40% ratio respectively in landfills. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Landfill produces 89 million metric tons of emissions that contain CO2 and CH4. There are already climate change issues rises from emission produces by all kinds of pollution been created around us. However, there are trash bins relabeled as a landfill with trash at EPA Cincinnati, Ohio. This fact clearly shows how the wake-up call comes in picture to pass the message of reduces plastic waste. To use the landfill gas and reduces the greenhouse effect from the climate, Rumpke partners with Duke energy and Montauk Energy Capital. “Rumpke’s waste help to generate electricity for thirty-three thousand household in Cincinnati, Ohio,” Anne Gray said.
Northern Kentucky University, Assistant Professor in Environmental Science, Kristine N. Hopfensperger says, “I teach Water Resources class and we just talking about plastic a week or two ago and one of the things I read in preparing for the classes that now there’s some data that says, humans and individual human is ingesting about a credit card a week of microplastic. it’s in our tap water, everywhere.” She also mentioned, it’s not just in our environment but it’s in our water and it’s in all our food. because it goes up the food chain and so I mean we joked about it in class but we’re simply eating 50 credit cards a year right now. Because of this impact with China and with the United States exporting that plastic there, all is going to do in the short term to create more pollution. The reason it’s obvious we don’t want to eat plastic, but we have to think about the origin or what plastic is. it’s fossil fuel and all the chemicals that makeup earth are carcinogenic and caused a ton of different health impacts that are dramatic like abnormalities, cancers.
These chemicals are linked to diabetes and obesity, these problems are widespread in the US. It really can connect all of that by having not recycling much. “The Health impacts in human health could increase because more of that plastic in the landfill that means more of its going to be washing into our waterways or leaching into our groundwater and getting into our food system as well,” said Kristine N. Hopfensperger. It’s increasing, “The social media outlets that she is a part of being an environmental person there is kind of almost daily stronger momentum for people to find alternatives to plastic packaging or products that come in plastic,” Kristine N. Hopfensperger said.
Landfill gas to vitality (LFGTE) ventures makes a larger number of issues than they illuminate: In LFGTE ventures, landfills are fitted with gear to catch emission of methane gas, yet just a small amount of the methane gas produced is caught for transformation into vitality. LFGTE extends ordinarily increment the momentary effect methane emission has on dangerous global warming. These tasks likewise neglect to perceive that the natural effect of methane getting away from the gas assortment framework far exceeds the unassuming advantage of counterbalancing CO2 emissions on the utility network.
Rumpke extends their work impact to people and trying to show the recycling and landfill has been done correctly. “Rumpke is fine about the next thirty years to dump their waste in landfills,” said Anne Gray, “we have more capacity than what we receive the trash each day, that means we are safe to landfilling the trash.”
On this opinion on Anne Gray, The Assistant professor at Northern Kentucky University, Kristine N. Hopfensperger said, “It’s disappointing to hear that the message that’s going out to the public, this type of message that would go against everything I just said about being positive and causing change for the more sustainable ways I wonder if their mentality and why they’re presenting that message is to reduce any concern or fear people have in their region about where it would go next or where would the next landfill have to be? But, Kristine N. Hopfensperger says, “I am a glass-half-full person and it ever Optimist teaching all this gloom and doom environmental science. So, ‘I think this could be an awesome opportunity and motivation for our society in our culture to start shifting towards non-plastic items in our life everywhere with everything.”’
Advertisers of landfill gas ignition reliably point to the way that methane is an intense ozone-depleting substance. This gets utilized as motivation to consume landfill gas to create vitality and to have that vitality considered “green.” Often overlooked is the way that most landfills that have gas assortment frameworks are consuming that gas in some structure at any rate. “Efficient power vitality” ought not to be blamed to move from flares to interior burning motors or gas turbines, as there is certifiably not a strong ecological contention for doing as such. The motivating forces engaged with efficient power vitality promoting are insufficient that landfills without gas assortment frameworks will introduce them to create “sustainable” vitality from landfill gas. “Landfill gas the management should be founded on confinement of dangerous contaminants and not on the governmental issues of an Earth-wide temperature boost.” – Kristine N. Hopfensperger.
Moreover, it’s always been common for landfills to capture the methane that’s produced. “Anything decomposes will produce that methane. It can be used to power things. So, it’s not strange for a landfill to benefit from methane and carbon dioxide,” Kristine N. Hopfensperger, “Then if Rumpke capturing that much and in the facility, they think of that as a plus like, look ‘its energy we can power things then that are still weak to the system and there’s still some of that’s going into the atmosphere.’ So, my response would be not having any of that at all, it’s better. we can use renewable energy to power those homes.” We don’t have any leaks or any of that going into the atmosphere to contribute to climate change. Yes, it’s great to capture that still going to end up in the atmosphere even if it’s going to be used to heat something, it’s still going to end up somewhere right to end up. That is not good. because it’s one of the greenhouse gases.
As shown above, Landfill and recycling are no longer having a good reason to use addictive plastic material. Because in the recycling market it is not viable for the manufacturer to recycle and get a good price out of it also it’s really hard for a material recovery facility to separate material and work well with machinery. On the other side of the landfill option, methane has the potential to escape more quickly. America cannot afford to subsidize the wrong solutions. Because major waste corporations tout the benefits of these projects, policymakers, and the media often fail to realize that Landfill Gas to Energy (LFGTE) is an ineffective approach to curbing methane emissions.