The United States of America leads the world in all kinds of statistics, both good and bad. We're definitely the best country in the world at basketball; if only that were true with soccer. Another particularly alarming statistic is the amount of waste produced by the average American each day. Sources differ somewhat on an exact figure, but on average an American produces between four and a half and six pounds of garbage a day (Kostigen 1). Honestly that makes me feel like a piece of crap. I am responsible for over a thousand pounds of garbage a year yet I am not held accountable for one ounce of it. All I have to do is split a 17 dollar trash pick up bill each month with two other people. With an American population of over three-hundred million, our country produces around eighteen million pounds of garbage a day (Snow). The area of land required to dump the trash Americans produce in a year is approximately the size of Pennsylvania. All this garbage and no real financial burden for any American. I hate to be doom and gloom, but the statistics are alarming and I could continue listing them if I felt like they would motivate people to start thinking about the waste they create. For those of you wanting to read more about some of America's problems with waste, I recommend The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen. Taking the time to separate products made of glass, aluminum, plastic and paper from the rest of our waste could REDUCE the amount of garbage dumped in a landfill by seventy-five percent (Kostigen 2). SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT!!??!! How easy is that? Not only would this reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills, but it would reduce the amount of raw materials needed to produce more glass, aluminum, plastic and paper! Recycling and reusing goods reduces wastes. The 3 R's work together beautifully to help develop a society concerned with preserving our environment!
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