Trash for cash

[Jerseyman4]

Looks like New York and New Jersey are finding ways to getting rid of their heavy trash volumes. More on the article courtesy of WRAL.

This is not good land use policy and will backfire years to come!

[JunktionFET]

Well, garbage has to go somewhere... However, central location or not, I don't like the idea of Eastern NC becoming a garbage recepticle for the east coast. If they go through with this plan, they need to really pay attention to where they are putting these mountains of trash. They need to be kept in places that are otherwise not usable or will probably never see use.

[orulz]

There is a very distinct disconnect in people's minds - mine included - between putting trash in the trash can and where it actually ends up. By putting our trash in a dumpster or on the curb for the city to cart away, it almost feels like the trash just disappears. But, of course, it has to go somewhere. That we never actually see our trash again makes it easy to live the "disposable lifestyle," even though we all know that we should try to be better at conserving and recycling. I bet this country could cut down on its waste by 50% with little to no economic impact if people (myself included) were not so lazy.

But long as the landfills for urban areas can be kept "way out there" away from where people live, that disconnect will remain and we will go on with our happy, disposable, non-sustainable lifestyles. 100 years from now, mankind will probably be mining the landfills that we are building now to recover all the usable resources that we're carelessly throwing away today.

[urbanvb]

I agree Orulz. On a happier note, Va Beach made 2 of it's landfills into city parks! One of them, aptly named Mount Trashmore, its the 2nd highest point in the city and is the most visited park in the city complete with a skate ramp and children's area.

[SouthJersey7]

Reminds me of the 'Simpsons' episode where Homer is elected head of sanitation department, and he generates revenue for the town by taking big-city garbage into the old mineshafts. So much is taken, however that the garbage bursts from the ground and the entire town is flooded. It has to be packed up and moved down the road Seriously though there needs to be a real long term solution, not this.

[MZT]

This was one of the "solutions" to Orange County's bankruptcy in 1994. Importing trash from Riverside and Upland...