Imagine walking through a town; you smell the rotting cheeseburger on the sidewalk, you are stepping on plastic garbage and other waste with every step you take. You can barely see what’s in front of you because of all of the smog. This is what life could be like in the year 2050 if recycling doesn’t improve.
Today, in 2013, pollution is a problem throughout the world and if it doesn’t get better now, it never will. For example, did you know that, according to http://www.environmentalistseveryday.org in 2013, the total volume of solid waste produced in the U.S. each year is equal to the weight of more than 5,600 Nimitz Class air craft carriers, 247,000 space shuttles, or 2.3 million Boeing 747 jumbo jets (Beck)?
According to environmentalistseveryday., the average American discards 4.43 pounds of garbage every day (EPA Facts and Figures). Also, according to http://www.containerpros.com/news-facts.shtml , if we put all of the solid waste collected in the U.S. in a line of average garbage trucks, that line of trucks could cross the country, extending from New York City to Los Angeles, more than 100 times (Beck). If we continue doing these habits, think of how much garbage there will be thirty years from now.
According to environmental, we have helped America reach a national recycling rate of 34.1 percent in the year 2013 (EPA Facts and Figures). Also, according to environmentalistseveryday, approximately 9,000 curbside recycling programs exist nationwide, up from 8,875 in 2002 (EPA Facts and Figures). By creating more programs like these and increasing the percentage of recycling it will greatly help decrease the pollution and maybe 2050 won’t be trashy, but clean instead.
Now imagine walking through a town; you smell fresh baked bread from the bakery across the street, you look around and you see green luscious grass and plants, you can see the bright sun; there’s not a cloud in the sky. This is what life could be like in 2050 if recycling does improve.
For more facts about trash and ways to get involved visit BeginWithTheBin.