BY AMAYA DARBY, Freshman
BLYTHEWOOD-- Currently in America there's a huge issue with waste. Americans are considered some of the most wasteful people in the world.
According to The Los Angeles Times ¨The U.S. produced about 228 million tons of waste in 2006, a figure that climbed to 254 tons by 2013. China with a population around four times larger than that of the U.S. is close behind with 190 million tons of waste per year.¨
Americans are not cautious of the amount of trash they produce.
¨I think that Americans have so much that they don't think about what they throw away. I think that Americans have so much that they don't have to want anything. It’s nothing for them to throw things out,¨ Kim Tiedemann, English teacher and recycling coordinator at Blythewood High School said.
¨Recycling is one of those things where I feel guilty because it's one of the easiest things we could do to contribute to using and throwing less things away,¨ English teacher Lana McGonagil said.
Americans do not understand how doing small deeds can make a big impact on the environment.
¨The only things that I really recycle are bottles and the butter containers we reuse those, other than that I don't recycle anything else,¨ freshman Meg Torrez said.
On Nov. 15, 2014, in Washington a survey by Industry Impact stated half of Americans say they recycle 75% or more recyclable materials, but only truly recycle 8% of the recyclables.
¨I was at the landfill this summer and there was a woman putting florescent light bulbs in the trash, that has a poisonous substance in it, and that is actually illegal to put in the trashes, and she didn't care,¨ Tiedemann said.
In some places, people are fined if they do not recycle. For example in certain parts of New York if they find recycled material in a person’s trash they will be fined at a starting price of $25. Fines can increase to $10,000 for repeat offenders, according to The New York Times.
¨I actually called the county administrator, and he said that it is just out of control,” Tiedemann said. “People don't care, they don't understand, they're not educated about how to discard things in a responsible manner, and it's just a mess,¨ Tiedeman said.
According to Aeramix landfills some counties buy a thick lining of plastic that goes over the ground to protect certain trash from affecting the earth.
There are some ways to help.
¨The idea of using plastic ware isn't such a bad thing because wouldn't it be worst to waste electricity on water to wash dishes, or why can't we just use one fork for the whole day,” McGonagil said.
Many people use plastic ware because it is more convenient, but they don't know that of the 33.6 million tons of plastic produced each year only 6.5% is recycled according to Columbia University's Earth Institute.
