Why doesn\'t the US burn municipal waste? Do you think that it is possible to pu

Question

1. Why doesn't the US burn municipal waste? Do you think that it is possible to put enough scrubbers on the stacks so that the emissions would be clean? What do you think?
2. What is municipal solid waste? Why do we line the landfills for municipal solid waste? What do you think?
3. What is recycle? Do we ever really throw away anything? Explain..
4. We all make lifestyle choices that impact the environment. These can include the type of car you drive, the type of food that you eat, the plastics that you use and the disposal of fluorescent lights. What are some examples of choices that you have made?
5. Urban sprawl is a lifestyle choice. It is actually one that I have chosen. Why is this considered a bad choice for the environment? What do you think?
6. what is a liveable city? Do not google this term as you will find a list of the US's most liveable cities. That list ranks other items. From an environmental point of view or a European point of view, what is a liveable city?

Explanation / Answer

Answer 1:

  WE (the USA) used to do just that. The problems are that air pollution from the incinerator is hard to control and the ash and other leftovers cannot be disposed of in a regular landfill; they are considered toxic waste, largely because of the heavy metals. We still have a few waste-to-energy plants, usually situated in the towns with the least political power.

Disposal of municipal solid waste gets a bit tricky and depends on the composition of the waste. Countries like yours and mine have much more plastic and paper than less-developed countries do. For us, recycling is a great help. I was once asked to write a white paper on municipal solid waste collection and disposal for a third-world country. There, I opted for composting, to take advantage of the relatively high percentage of garbage in the waste stream. Once the compost is screened and hauled off to be used as a badly-needed soil amendment, the remaining material might be mined for recyclables, once that becomes economically feasible.

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