Trash in America - Moving Towards a Zero Waste System
The United States produces too much waste. Natural resources are continually extracted to produce goods that are used in the U.S. – often only briefly – before they are thrown into landfills, incinerators or the natural environment. This system of consumption and disposal results in the waste of precious resources and in pollution that threatens our health, environment and the global climate. Because the costs of this system fall on society at large – not on the producers and consumers who drive it – there are few direct incentives for change.