The waste in America is astronomical as detailed by Edward Humes. I think it is currently not possible to totally “detrash” this country. We have so many landfills that we don’t even know what are in them. We could start programs, but at our current rate it is not possible. Also, the government should get involved to deal with these things.
The mountains of trash that dot the United States are filled with many things. Most of the items that fill them are furniture, clothing, and wood packaging, and it is these things that we could recycle. Reusing fabric and metals that are these items. We do have the technology to do it. If it is expensive, then we can definitely put money to revolutionize it. Other fillers in our landfills include packaging, containers, and food scraps. We can again recycle these. Turning food scraps into mulch is a good way to help it decompose faster and put good soil back into the ground.
I think it is clear that many of the issues that we face can be easily rectified by recycling and the technology that we have. We need to get out of the industrialization and capitalism thought pattern that we have got ourselves into. There is no reason to buy buy. It is okay to donate things like clothes (again a type of recycling) for other people to use. Between the influences of history and media, we are hard pressed to spend money because other people are doing it. Is it really smart to buy and then pitch when other people are doing it?
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