Friday, January 4, 2013

Good morning,

As of 2009 numbers there are about 1,900 landfills in the United States.

While 1,900 represents an actual significant decline in numbers over the last 25 years, the size of landfills has gone up dramatically, making them mega-landfills, really.

Fewer, larger landfills also means trash now has to travel farther from your kitchen to its final resting place, and longer trips mean more greenhouse gas emissions.

Either way you look at it, trash is a big problem. But what can you do? All the recycling in the world won't eliminate trash.

No, I'm sorry, actually it totally will. Take a look at Sweden.

Thanks for reading,

Your Living Green editor

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In Sweden, where they use an innovative waste-to-energy program and highly efficient recycling habits, they have actually run out of trash.

In order to continue fueling the waste-to-energy factories that provide electricity to a quarter of a million homes and 20 percent of the entire country's district heating, Sweden is now importing trash from the landfills of other European countries. In fact, those countries are paying Sweden to do so, turning garbage into stinky, stinky gold for Sweden.

Imagine what we could accomplish with 1,900 mega-landfills in the United States!