• Sandi Muniswamy
• Blog Classic
• October 21, 2013
• 11 Comments

The Ugly, The Bad and The Good of Waste Disposal

I know, I know it is supposed to be The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, but I don’t personally know Clint Eastwood and this blog, in my opinion, works better backwards.

The Ugly: recycler uses recycle operation as landfill; construction supervisor mishandles asbestos, landfill fires, landfill odors and landfill toxic fumes, landfill leachate run-off, illegal E-Waste disposal, manufacturers who knew and know that the products, such as Lead, Chromium, Asbestos were and are lethal to human beings, but manufacture for profit anyway, asbestos companies that dumped asbestos illegally in upstate New York, the asbestos truck that purposely dumped asbestos in the street in front of a grammar school, violators who do not safely handle and dispose toxins, the companies that are not precautious enough to stop environmental disasters, oil companies, the corporations that have toxic, hazardous or regulated waste that can be treated on site, but landfill them for our future generations to deal with, the list goes on and most received prison time, all except the executives that are politically connected, like W.R. Grace, but a Swiss billionaire asbestos manufacturer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for asbestos deaths – in Italy – no less! There is something wrong with the U.S., because no one received prison time for killing a town of people in Libby, Montana. Now that is really UGLY!

The Bad: The bad are the people who care, but only occasionally, the bad are the people who find it difficult to go out of their way to recycle and only recycle when convenient, the bad are the people who throw everything into one garbage bin, the bad are the people who throw waste in the street instead of carrying it to a garbage bin or a recycle bin.

The Good: The good ardently believe the more we recycle the better we will become as humans, the better our children will be as they grow, the less future pollution our children will have to deal with and the less pollution will enter the environment, the less garbage will be handled and dumped in a landfill or put through an incinerator, believe in conserving our natural resources, support global climate change and will continue to create new industries and jobs though innovation of recycling products.

The good believe in a circular economy: what comes out of the manufacturing product, after its end of life’s cycle, is able to go back into the manufacturing the same or similar product. The good understand the importance of buying products that are recyclable and/or are made from recycled material. The good don’t take shopping bags from the grocery store, but they bring their own non-disposable shopping bags to the grocery store.

The good understand the importance of the separation of recyclables, they buy and use designated recycles bins. They believe in composting, paper, cardboard, bottle, and can recycling.

Hell! The good believe in recycling everything they can possibly recycle to save our planet.