Waste Disposal in US Landfills Has Been Underestimated by 115% (on Gizmodo)
Pollution by solid waste has become an urgent issue to deal with. It is understood by everybody that it has to be resolved at the local level by the appropriate bodies and structures. However, the question arises: in what way should it be done so as to be effective and harmless for the environment?
The recent statistical data prove that it constitutes a problem, which has to be taken into account by the authorities, since the policy, conducted before, shows its ineffectiveness and disability to cope with such problem. Powel, Zimmerman, and Townsend in their article demonstrate that ‘the amount of municipal waste being disposed of in the US is more than double – 262 million tonnes (metric tons) versus 122 million tonnes in 2012’ (Powel, Zimmerman, and Townsend p.1)
Target of the Article
We can conclude that the article is written with usage of scientific terminology and a lot of data, thus the audience, which could understand all the aspects of this article, is not wide. The main message, addressed to a reader, is the need for monitoring of data and current situation in the field of waste management. The authors also, besides typical data collection, propose innovative gas collection approaches that capture gas very soon after waste is initially placed in a landfill (Powel, Zimmerman, and Townsend p.2). Thus, they propose alternatives to the existing approaches of measurement of waste as well as give the possibility to compare which method is better to the reader.
The scientists believe that their information will be used in the field of waste management, which, as we have already shown, needs to be changed and improved. There is a hope that near-term and long-term improvement plans will be introduced (p.2).
Among the examples of changes they advise to make is following: usually, gas is collected from landfills through a series of perforated pipes that are installed vertically or horizontally within the waste once enough waste is in place to accommodate the wells. Certain issues, which arise from underperforming gas collection systems, such as high-temperature conditions within the waste, can make effective gas collection difficult and can even create conditions leading to pyrolysis or fires’ (Powel, Zimmerman, and Townsend p.2). The previously mentioned innovate gas collection is the means to cope with this problem, according to authors. Here among the important things we need to highlight the article’s scientific background and the strategic plan, which is proposed to be used by the managers so as to reduce the level of waste and prevent potential negative consequences of the existing management methods.
Estimation and Potential Influence
Though, the text is rather scientific and people are likely to extract only the idea that the existing methodology to cope with waste is not perfect, however, they will not participate in changes, they will not get involved, since there aren’t roles for them, proposed by the authors.
Hence, the article is rather valuable for the limited circle of audience, and cannot be said to have great impact on the majority of people, even on those, who have read it. The authors per se do not even rely on the audience’s support, but expect that future studies will use our data-mining methodology to unearth additional relationships and insights about how disposal facilities are actually operating, helping to inform policymakers, improve analytical tools’ (p.3)
Advertisement ‘Recycle Everywhere’ by Applied Arts Wire
In this short paper people were shown the results of the previous campaign of encouraging people to start following the principle of three Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) in order to show how the difference could be made. Two agencies conducted a campaign, during which they were trying to show how containers for certain beverage could be used for making new products (Applied Arts Wire p.1)
The target was to reduce the level of garbage in the city as well as to obtain additional material for production of different goods, thus reduce the costs for such process. The article also shows that certain positive results have already occurred, namely the level of recovery of the empty containers has increased during a year. They claim that such results would have been impossible to take place, if the properly applied advertisement campaign had not been settled.
Among the barriers, which exist on the way of starting the proper implementation of 3 Rs policy, authors point out people’s ignorance. People do not know that everyday items could be used for the second time and could benefit the owners per se, who will help the environment by reducing the pollution by solid waste rate. This process of recycling, as the authors say, ‘helps to make the connection between [recycling] and everyday items’ (p.1)
In order to make people aware of the activity of the organizations, which deal with recycling, these two firms launched the campaign, which involved TV and radio broadcasting as well as distribution of advertisement materials for the citizens, in particular T-Shirts, where it was written what can be extracted from the materials and how can it resolve certain environmental problems ’(p.1)
How were people attracted to this campaign? We can conclude that it was done in a creative way. They located the volunteers near the previously placed recycle bins for the cans waiting for a person, who will throw his item into the bin. As a result, a person throwing container to the bin was all of a sudden surrounded by the volunteers, who organized the mob for him with fireworks and smoke (p.2)
The audience for the campaign
It was all aimed at increasing the level of awareness of Winnipeg citizens of 3 Rs principle. The results are obvious. The response was positive, since people’s involvement in such activity was absolutely democratic, there was no coercion and orders to act only in this way. People were merely shown the benefits of such way of thinking, but they were not forced to choose this. The extraordinary attitude towards this problem, active campaign, and effective marketing were the keys to success.
This advertisement shows that sometimes proper balance between one’s own interests and the interests of the community could be beneficial. The organizations, conducting such activity, were not only aimed at lowering their costs, but also at protecting the environment from extra pollution by beverage containers.
This campaign led to the following statistics: ‘Annual recovery rate of empty containers (which is calculated by comparing the number of all beverage containers sold to the number recovered through the recycling program) increased from 53 per cent in 2012 to 61 per cent in 2013. That means Manitobans are recycling more than ever before — last year, it was enough to fill 891 railcars’ (p.1).
Thus, two different aspect of recycling have been satisfied, namely organizational management, which decreased the costs for the new materials, and environmental protection policy. Also, it helped people to understand that the existence of many different bins is not merely the implementation of certain legal norm and does not have sense. It is about one's own welfare and quality of life.
Estimation of the effectiveness
We can conclude that, in contrast to the previous story, which was the expression of one’s own feelings and thoughts about the recycling process, in this paper we have dealt with concrete steps of implementation of strategic plan to recycle beverage containers. Here certain statistical data could be faced, which raise the level of audience’s trust that certain positive results occurred. Dealing with the matter of the effectiveness and critically assessing in, it is necessary to highlight that this program was local and we cannot talk about it in the aspect of its influence on other regions. However, in terms of Winnipeg territory and community we should admit that these steps were effective. Consequently, such steps, made at the local level, could level to the general improvement of the quality of environment.
Work cited
1. Applied Arts Wire (2014) Recycle Everywhere Retrieved from:
http://www.appliedartsmag.com/blog/?p=16432
2. Powell, J., Zimmerman, J., Townsend, T.G. (2015) Waste Disposal in US Landfills Has Been Underestimated by 115% Retrieved from:
http://gizmodo.com/waste-disposal-in-us-landfills-has-been-underestimated-1732517793
