A Map of America's Landfills... All of Them
One would think that they’d be able to tell whether or not they lived close to a landfill, right? You might be closer to one that you think. This interactive map shows just how close you are to active and inactive landfills in your area.
Click the image to go to the interactive map
Many of them have closed and have been converted to parks or inconspicuous grassy hills. Though some are still open and actively accepting trash, and after looking at this map you might get a better idea of where your landfill waste goes.
Looking at California on this map it looks absolutely covered in landfills, this is especially true in the Los Angeles area. Considering that the average American produces 4.4 pounds of trash every day it’s astonishing to think that there are only about 2,000 active landfills in the entire country. Although 4.4 pounds may not sound like a lot, think about how many pounds of trash that equates to per year, about 1,606 pounds. Now think about your entire household creating that amount of waste every year, and the entire country. The U.S. creates 254 million tons of waste per year, and unless we start dramatically decreasing that amount we may very well run out of landfill space.
This is what makes recycling so crucial to our success. In recent years, Americans have continued to increase the amount waste that is recycled instead of landfilled, but at the same time we’re increasing the total amount of trash we generate. With all of the new packaging materials that products are sold in, recyclers are having a hard time keeping up.
When you reduce the amount of waste you generate and when you support Californians Against Waste, you make a huge difference. The more others see you doing things like bringing your own reusable bag or cup and composting your food scraps, the more they’re inspired to try living less wasteful. Supporting CAW and calling your legislators to support legislation that we sponsor helps to make California a more recycling friendly state.