There is a great need to protect our environment from unnecessary garbage dumping that can pose health risks to the surrounding people, dumps interferes with the aesthetic value and reduces the quality of air that we breathe. Rodents breed in dumps hence ending in our houses causing food spoilage; dumps are also associated with diarrhea diseases since flies feed on the dumps.(pool, 2014) Reducing the amount of garbage wastes dumped daily should always start with individuals own incentive which is responsibility and self-awareness, by responsibility I mean we should always be cautious on how we handle our waste material, we shouldn’t just litter the surrounding with them but we should dump them in various indicated places for dumping wastes or the litter bins. Each individual should always be aware of their surrounding and take responsibility of keeping them clean because it’s the basic and first step of ensuring garbage wastes dumped on a daily basis reduces.
According to US environmental protection Agency (EPA), I believe 4 pounds of waste in a daily basis is a big number that needs to be reduced so that the collection cost which is the most expensive process of waste management also reduces. There’re several simple ways to reduce the amount of wastes ending up in our garbage; the first measure should be composting food and garden wastes, food wastes can be wastes from food materials and the kitchen. Garden wastes can be wastes from the animals we rear; composted wastes can be used as organic manure hence reducing the amount of garbage dumped. Another simple way is to dig your food scraps into the garden, rather than dumping your food scraps into the bins, you can reduce the amount of wastes by digging some hole in the garden where you dump these food scraps and the hole should be dip enough so that the garbage is not exhumation maybe during flash floods. Reducing wastes dumped requires our own responsibility especially when we go shopping, one should always shop using re-usable bags. Re-usable bags can be kept for future use in other purposes, we should always avoid bags that once are used cannot be used again; this incentive will ensure there is reduction in the shopping bags ending into our garbage. Another best way to reduce garbage wastes is to buy in bulk technique, buying products in small amounts means buying after every short period, and this means anytime we buy our products need to be wrapped in some bag. Therefore I believe buying in bulk we buy once after a long period of time and the wrapping will also not be done frequency hence the wrapping wastes ending into our garbage will also be reduced. I believe we like reading to learn new things and get informed, but have you ever asked yourself how many newspapers, magazines and books people dump daily after reading them? Books, magazines and newspapers contribute to a larger portion of the 4 pounds wastes dump daily by the US citizens. The best way to curb this is to switch our books, magazines and newspapers with friends after reading rather than disposing them into the litter bins.(Rusch, 2014) A charitable way can also be used to reduce the amount of wastes that end up in our garbage; this method is applicable mostly on the clothes and shoes that we put on. If we have overgrown some shoes and clothes or we feel that they are old, we should not always dump them into the garbage but we should always give them to the charity. Believe me you some clothes that might seem old to you might be new to someone who don’t have, doing this is a two ways benefit because you reduce the garbage waste and also helping the needy.
Buying a product from the shops or the supermarket should not always be about the product, it should also be about the packaging material. We should always insist on the packaging materials that are recyclable, recyclable materials won’t be dumped permanently into the garbage but they will be collected processed again and re- used for the same purpose or for another different purpose.
Papers from photocopying and printing are one of the largest contributors of garbage wastes in the printing outlets, one of the measures that could be taken to reduce this menace is to photocopy or print both sides of the paper, the commonly known as back to back. Another simple way to reduce wastes in our garbage is to use returnable or refillable products, refillable products are always in containers, for instance we should always have a single container for our perfume and when it’s finished we should go and refill it rather than buying with new container over and over again which increases amount of the wastes we dump in our garbage. When purchasing our products, we should always be aware of double packaging, some bulk packages are just wrapped individually items and when we purchase them they get packed again, we should always take responsibility and always desist when these items are packed again to ensure the 4 pound digit of wastes reduces to a smaller number (Rusch, 2014). An average of 30 pounds junk mails are received yearly by the American residents, I believe this number can be reduced if we reduce the amount of unwanted mails we receive on a daily basis. Shopping at second hand stores is another important aspect of reducing the wastes dumped into our garbage, I believe one can find nice clothes and shoes at affordable price in these stores these will be convenient for the person and effective as long as environmental conservation is concerned. The final way we can use to reduce wastes in our garbage is to eat whole food rather than packaged foods.
Conclusion
In conclusion, wastes should not be currently a part of our environment especially the outside environment, wastes collection, transportation; dumping and processing are expensive methods of wastes management. To reduce this expense, we need to reduce the amount of waste we dump in our garbage, reducing of wastes should not only be the role of the government but the every citizen should be involved.
References;
- Pool, R. Rusch, E. (2014). Identifying and reducing environmental health risks of chemicals in our society: Institute of medicine US.
- Food wastage foot print. (2014). Mitigation of food wastage, societal costs and benefits: food and agricultural organization of the UN.