Pay For Your Garbage
The United States is responsible for a third of the world’s garbage, 75 to 95 percent of which could be recycled. Even things that are too big to be collected on the street, like electronics or furniture, are still recyclable at local drop off areas. Our garbage is taken to landfills and buried, but out of sight out of mind is not always the best solution. Landfills emit methane gas, one of the many causes of global warming. They also leak toxic materials into the surrounding soil and water, which eventually make their way back to us. Solution? Recycle everything you can - and one way your city can help ensure that people do that is to make people pay for their garbage. A controversial topic of course, but it’s one you should support.
PAY AS YOU THROW
PAYT, or pay-as-you-throw, is a growing trend in our country. PAYT programs make people pay a certain amount, usually $1, for every bag of garbage or garbage can collected on the street. This encourages people to recycle everything they can so they create the least amount of garbage. Having your recyclables picked up, of course… is free.
THE FACTS
The average American produces 4.5 pounds of garbage every day.