The Other Option

I didn't even know about incinerating until I did research on recycling. Now, maybe I'm just naive, but it seems like a fairly unpopular method of disposal. I had heard of burning trash before, but not in a good light. However, I read in America's Environmental Report Card that when done correctly, incineration at high temperatures and with energy recovery could be even more environmentally friendly than recycling. But on the other hand, most incinerators are reportedly not following optimum procedures and are thus emitting harmful gases into the atmosphere. So here is the issue: there's recycling, which is very popular and effective but is by choice and so only about one-third of garbage is recycled. Then there's incinerators that reduce waste volume by 90%, but many communities are unwilling to install them due to high costs, and even if they are built, they have to be run in a very specific way to ensure environmentally friendliness. So what's the answer? I don't think I know even what I think as of yet. I love the idea of recycling, but if America can figure out a good way to start up a fleet of clean incinerators, that would be even more ideal. For now though, I am still happy with recycling and recognize the difficulty of making ideal incineration come true.

Confirmed!

So that last post I put in probably looked pretty silly, right? I mean, it was a cartoon from YouTube, for goodness sake. But I have found confirmation on that one jarring fact I listed; the one that said the aluminum Americans throw out could rebuild our entire commercial plane fleet every three months. I was researching on America's recycling in a book called America's Environmental Report Card: Are We Making the Grade? by Harvey Blatt, and it stated the very same fact! As hopelessly pathetic that fact is, it's at least comforting to know that YouTube isn't completely crazy.

Are We Keeping America Beautiful?

I just found a great little video on YouTube that looks and is silly, but it actually has some important information in it. For example, the main character says that every year, 1 million tons of aluminum are improperly disposed of, which apparently is enough to rebuild the total American commercial air fleet every 3 months! Wow. So I'm going to have to research this information and check to see if it's right, but if so, it looks like America isn't doing a very good job with their recycling.

The Journey Begins...

Environmental issues are becoming more and more pertinent to today's world. But who is actually doing something about it? That's my mission to find out. I am on a journey in which I plan to learn which countries create the most garbage, who manages their waste the best, what kinds of recycling policies are present around the world, and more. also, I want to find out who cares about this stuff. Before anything can be done to help the environment, people have to have the desire to make a difference. I think recycling is an important step to being more environmentally friendly, and for me, it's relatively easy to do. However, I don't know if it's easy because I just happen to live in an area in the US that has a fairly good recycling program. This is just the beginning of my process. But any helpful information is much appreciated, and I in turn will post my findings.