Solid Waste and Recycling
This indicator describes the disposal and diversion of solid waste (also known as "municipal solid waste/ MSW," "trash," "refuse" or "garbage") in the Puget Sound Georgia Basin from 1999 through 2003.

How does this affect me?

Inefficiency in Manufacturing Production and Lost Economic Opportunity

The following links may provide helpful information and are located outside the EPA.gov domain.

When physical goods are made less efficiently, more waste is associated with every phase of production. Each phase of manufacturing involves emission of chemicals and other harmful substances to air, water and land. This also leads to smaller margins of profit for the manufacturer and smaller returns on investment. Less efficient production is likely tied to financial performance and the ability to retain people in employment.¹⁰

The manner in which we handle products also has implications for employment rates. For every 15,000 tons of waste landfilled only one job is created, yet we could create seven jobs by composting that amount of waste or create nine jobs by recycling it.¹¹ The Waste to Work Partnership has determined that thousands of new jobs could be created in the Northwest by expanding and starting businesses that add economic value to waste materials through reuse, remanufacture and recycling.¹²

Cost and Time to Businesses and Consumers

Every physical good purchased and used involves transportation, storage and eventual disposal. Each step requires time and expense, since garbage costs are tied to either volume or weight. In addition, you pay for packaging three times as packaging is incorporated into the product price, you pay for transportation and disposal. The greater the volume of goods purchased, the more space you need to store the items. In some cases, this may involve refrigeration and additional liability since there are many products that pose hazards (cleaning chemicals, garden and auto products).

Environmental Impacts of Landfills and Incineration

The entire solid waste collection system generates greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄). which contribute to global warming. These emissions are generated from manufacturing, transportation via railroads or trucks (use of lower grade diesel fuels), waste combustion, and landfill gas generated by decomposition of wastes.¹³

Incineration also produces dioxin, a persistent organic chemical that is carcinogenic,¹⁴ as well as fine particulates, which lead to respiratory illnesses. Please see the Air Quality indicator for more detail about fine particulate matter.

Exporting Toxics

Many electronic products are disposed as garbage. These compounds cause damage to living organisms at extremely low levels and build up in the food chain. Our electronic trash is often shipped overseas where adults and small children disassemble parts without sufficient health protection from the toxic parts of the products they are handling. Four hours from Hong Kong in Guiyu, Guangdong Province, China, over 100,000 immigrant workers perform electronic disassembly work which includes burning plastic wires and plastics, and dipping components in acid along the river bank to harvest valuable metals.¹⁵

Exposure to Harmful Substances in Products

The sheer volume of products we buy that become garbage is also a concern based on the chemicals in those products. The presence of harmful substances in many of the products that both citizens and businesses purchase is inadequately regulated and not included on labels because of the nature of the federal regulatory authority, industry lobbying, confidential business information claims and litigation. The very presence of these products is the result of failure to adopt the "precautionary principle," which puts the onus on manufacturers to prove the safety of their products before introducing them for sale. Appropriate application of the precautionary principle would result in harmful chemicals being replaced with safer alternatives if there were sufficient threat of harm, rather than keeping the chemicals in use until citizens and public agencies were able to prove harm beyond doubt.¹⁶

The Toxic Substances Control Act, when passed in 1976, grandfathered in tens of thousands of chemicals that were never tested for human health or environmental impacts.¹⁷ The environmental and human health aspects of these chemicals have not been fully evaluated. In addition, every day household items such as shampoo, televisions, carpets and lawn care products create chemical exposure to humans, most notably rapidly developing children.¹⁸

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