Waste Appreciation: Visit A Landfill in 2012

Hi! Happy New Year Wasters! How about this to add to your list of New Year's Resolutions?

I thought that I would pass on the contents of the email below which came from a subscriber. I think that there must be many people who, like him, have busy lives and before 2011, never gave waste disposal much thought.

“For 43 years I have been someone that never truly finished the concept ; when I toss stuff away it goes… I have given myself an excellent gift this year ; call it a trip, if you like, but I took myself to my town's landfill and had my eyes opened for the 1st time. Perhaps the idea of somebody reaching their 40's and still not being contientious of recycling is one that sounds fantastic, well, it's the actual facts.

 

 

I did not grow up imagining the Earth covered in over-flowing landfills, piles and heaps of rubbish as high as the tallest building. That wasn't my experience.

But because the concept of leaving too much waste for the Earth to handle is a sour fact today, I have started to teach myself.

I suspect I have always thought of using credit cards as not being real cash, I now see that is the same way as I viewed trash.

I know I have read about landfills becoming, well, full and the way in which that will set off a problem but till I took myself out to the site itself, I continued to have this immature idea that when I put something into the rubbish can, it just went – away.

Seeing, with my very own eyes, the area appointed for my community's left-overs was like an enormous slap of reality. I was ultimately able to understand the concept ; “if I am not the only one throwing things away thoughtlessly, and if others are doing it as well, this space won't last long at all.”

I was shocked at some of the things I saw at the town's landfill, too. There were pieces of furniture that, being somebody creative, I could see would make nice trash-to-treasures pieces. Perhaps these once beautiful and still useable items might be the one piece that brought the feeling of a room together, that finished what the room is to feel just like and express. As an alternative somebody tossed them out and they now take up a ton of space in a limited area and cause me stressfulness, not contentment.

I am lucky because my youngsters, who are early teens, have been taught about the significance of recycling and the significance of what we must do to keep the world from being buried in pointless trash. They've been concentrating on the lessons that have come their way, where as, I had to see it for myself before I might be galvanized to switch the way that I do things.

The pleasant news is, it only took one quick trip to the landfill, for me to come to my senses and make changes about the way In which I do things and about the way In which I think.

If we aren't thinking worldwide when talking about waste, and what we are leaving behind, we aren't being smart. Grab some youngsters, or some forty-somethings and take yourself on a field expedition that may, do for you what it probably did for me ; make the changes that are necessary for me to see what the grim reality of our situation is and change the way In which I do things. “

Of course I am not suggesting that you climb over a fence to visit a landfill.

Most large well run landfills nowadays provide a resource centre where school children are educated about waste management and recycling during school trips, and a short phone call to the landfill office before you leave should ensure that you can choose a time when the facility will be open. Such facilities are usually located at a point where there is also a landfill viewing point and the staff will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.

Even if the landfill does not have a visitor resource centre, in my experience the staff, given adequate notice will often be happy to meet any local resident and show them around their landfill for half an hour.

In fact, as residents we can do a lot to encourage our landfill operators to maintain the best standards. Keeping a landfill tidy is hard work, but it is much more rewarding if those doing it also feel that the community cares about their landfill, rather than only ever just complaining when things go wrong. 

So, how's that for a New Year's Resolution? Make that visit to a landfill! It might be quite an “eye opener” just as it was for our reader.Who knows, you might even come back impressed if areas of the landfill have been well restored.