Garbage pickup days have been a bit of a challenge this year. Between the wind storms and the rain, in fact, there have been many garbage pickup days when you have simply decided not to take the trash and the recyclables to the curb at all. Trash removal costs are pretty much the same every month, however, whether you get your items to the curb or not. From yard waste removal to getting the weekly trash and recycling to the curb, there are many times when property owners rely on these important services to make sure that their home is safe and clean.
For the city’s part, there are many times when the trash removal services are an expensive part of the city costs. Making sure that your community is always able to get the services that they need is very important. So important, in fact, that there are many times when local elections are won or lost based on whether or not trash pickup services happen when they should. In spite of snow delays and other weather events, every member of a community needs to make sure that the trash that they have is properly disposed of.
Commercial and Residential Waste Removal Is a Significant Part of Many City Budgets
As the nation comes to grip with the immense amount of trash that we all generate, it is important to realize that without we are dealing with extraordinary amounts of garbage. In fact, in a lifetime, the average American will throw away nearly 600 times the amount of his or her adult weight in garbage. The fact that more than 87% of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs means that some of this trash will not end up in the landfill. This is important as entire nation’s are dealing with the fact that they are running out of ways and places to dispose of the trash that they throw out on a daily basis.
Did you know, for instance, that some countries like the U.S. actually pay other countries to take our trash. The recent announcement that China will no longer be willing to take our trash means that we may have a real mess to deal with in the next few year.
Consider some of these other facts and figures about the garbage pickup industry and the recycling efforts that are both increasingly important and expensive:
- Throughour its entire process, waste management can encompass up to 20 different industries.
- The average person generates more than four pounds of trash every single day .
- Although you may think that recycling is very expensive, the truth is not so clear. In fact, it costs an average of $30 per ton to recycle trash. In comparison, it costs nearly $50 per ton to send the same amount of trash to a landfill.
- Organic materials are the largest component of municipal solid waste (MSW). Of all the MSW, paper and paperboard account for 27% and yard trimmings and food account for another 28%.
- Fortunately, as Americans change their habits the environment is seeing some improvements. In fact, Americans recycle more paper products than they send to landfills.
- The U.S. paper industry set a goal of a 60% scrap paper recovery rate by the year 2012, but achieved this goal three years early.
It may be windy or rainy the next time that you are supposed to take the trash to the curb. The reality is, however, that no matter what the weather is doing, you might really struggle to maintain a safe and attractive home if you did not have these services to rely on.
