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I live in the Shenandoah Valley, nestled between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains. So at first, I didn’t notice anything different about one nearby mountain. Then I saw a green Waste Management truck pull up, stop to be weighed and head off toward the closest mountain — a mountain of trash.
Grown over with grass, the unnatural mountain blends into its surroundings. But the bulldozer working its sides – and the black birds circling – reveal its truth.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans produce 268 million tons of trash annually. Individually we toss 4.5 pounds of trash every day. The global average is 1.6 pounds — we Americans are trashier than most. But we’ve come a long way from the days of throwing waste out our windows to fester in the street.
According to dumpster.com (a fascinating website), the first U.S. landfill was created in 1935 in California. It was your basic hole in the ground, periodically covered with dirt. In 1959, “sanitary landfill” guidelines were introduced, and the Solid Waste Disposal Act was passed in 1965. Today, landfills have evolved into a system meticulously engineered to protect human health, control groundwater contamination and reduce the methane caused by decomposition, a major contributor to climate change.
But even with these advancements, we have a trash problem. Landfills have multiplied, space is quickly filling, and recycling is more important than ever. Green advocates have dubbed us a “throwaway society” because of all our single-use products.
Today’s pilgrimage to the mountain of trash gives me reason to repent of my trashy ways and to work for a more sustainable future.
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