BIODEGRAD ABILITY:
THE GREAT MYTH
Most of us like to think we know something
about what's biodegradable and whafs
not. Anybody worn his ecological salt
knows which substances break down and
which ones don't. ??
WE READ LABELS, DON'T WE?
Well, a noted archaeologist who excavates
landfills says much of what we believe
about bioaegradability is pure rubbish I
Archaeologist William L. Rathje has literally
uncovered some essential truths about what
happens in landfills through his program
called The Garbage Project at tne University
of Arizona.
The archaeologist first provides a break
down on what s really in most municipal
landfills, then goes on to explain why it
doesn't break down. Despite the baa rap
that plastics, disposable diapers, fast food
packaging and cans get wnen people are
'talkin trash/' Rathje says that paper is the
real culprit in every landfill.
Not that those other items aren't contribut
ing to the overall problem, it's just that
paper accounts for 40 to 50 percent
of everything we throw away/ both
by weight and volume. But that
shouldn'toe such a problem, if it's biode
gradable, right?
Not really. Rathje reports that during an
excavation in Pnoenix, he found newspa
pers dating back to 1 952 that were so
clean and well preserved a person might
read one over breakfast!
So why doesn'tpaper break down rapidly in
landfills like we ve been led to believe?
Laboratories can make newspapers biode
grade into gray slime in a few weeks or
months, if the newspapers are finely ground
and placed in idea conditions. But newspa
pers are not placed into the landfill already
ground up and the conditions are far from
ideal. Without sunlight, air and moisture, the
decomposition process is virtually halted.
AND WHAT ABOUT PLASTICS?
When Rathie exhumed, sorted and weighed
some 1 6,0<X) pounds of garbage on a recent
excavation, he found that plastics accounted for
less than 5 percent of the landfiH's contents by
weight and less than 1 2 percent in volume.
Ironically enough, the fact that plastics don't
biodegrade , which is most often cited 9s a
defect, may actually be one of it's great virtues.
Just because plastic takes up a lot of room in
our kitchen trash can, we think it takes up a lot
of space in the landfill.
Not so, according to this noted landfill excava
tor. Rathje says anything plastic is squashed
flat by the time it gets to tne landfill by garbage
truck compactors. And plastic, being inert,
doesn't introduce toxic cnemicals into the
environment. The newly developed biodegrad
able plastics aren't all they're cracked up to be,
because it takes up to 20 years for the plastic to
break down into~hundreds of miniature plastic
chips, with the total volume of plastic remaining
the same!
Food waste and yard debris do degrade, but at
a very sbw rate, by 25 to 50 percent over a
period of 10 to 15 years. The remainder of the
refuse in landfills seems to retain its original
weight and volume and form. It is in effect,
mummified.
So now that we've debunked a few widely
accepted beliefs about biodegradability ,
what s a conscientious person to do?
CUT DOWN ON THE AMOUNT OF
GARBAGE GOING TO THE LANDFILL
THAT IN REALITY WONT BIODEGRADE
AT ALU
We can be diligent about not putting unnec
essary paper in the landfill. Make sure any
and all paper that can be recycled gets
recycled, whether it be newspaper, grocery
socks or phone books!) Likewise with plas
tics, (ana don't forget aluminum and steel
cans!). Instead of throwing food scraps in the
trash, try composting for a change. The same
applies for yard debris; it can be used for
mulch.
Rathje contends that there's nothing new
under the sun when it comes to civilizations
dealing with garbage. We can either dump
it, burn it, mate into something new, or
reduce the source of the solid waste. He says
America can manage its garbage by improv
ing on these four basic approaches.
Paper and pa per board ? 41 0%
Rubber, leather,
textiles, wood -8.1%
THE BOUNTY FROM OUR BINS:
CURBSIDE TONNAGE UPDATE
RECYCLE TODAY is pleased to announce
that Winston-Salem residents have saved
more than 24 miOion pounds of recyclable
material from going to the landfill!
Instead, it's been picked up through the City*
of Winston-Salem s curbsiae recycling
program and taken to the BFI Recyclery.
Thanks to you, we've got an impressive
bounty to Doast about. Here's a closer
look:
Lefs Keep
Those Bins Brimming, Folksll
Plastic
1,250,850 lbs.
S
Aluminum
622,980 lbs.
Glass
6,364,880
Steel Cans
3 1 8,380 lbs. Newsprint
1 5,722,(500 JbiL