Let's Talk Trash

Turning Waste into Power How does it work?   There is a waste to power plant here in Indianapolis where I live.  It acts as supplemental energy for the city.  I have delivered garbage there in the past and seeing how it works is amazing to say the least, but how does it actually work?  As you can see above, the way it works is fairly straightforward like any other power station.   

Recycling Buildings Deconstruction Back to Construction   I first heard about this method on NPR.  I always assumed that recycling was nearly impossible for buildings unless you are talking about metals or certain plastics.  I never thought about other materials such as shingles, the foundation, walls, and flooring.  In this blog, I will discuss how these materials can be recycled and the process it takes.  I will not go through every single part of the building.  That would take too long.

Food Waste What Can be Done? When I hauled garbage, I would notice a lot of what I had in my trailer was wasted food.  Many of the food came from restaurants since that transfer station dealt with mainly those facilities rather than residential houses.  Why wasn't that food transported to food banks or homeless shelters?  For starters, many food pantries and homeless shelters accept mainly non-perishable items. That was why I saw perishable food in my trailer rather than packaged foods.  Many food banks and homeless shelters lack the means to keep perishable foods fresh.  So, what can be done?  I am going to ignore companies for now and focus on us.  What can we do? Composting This is something we can also do in our homes.  There are many municipal composting sites in many areas.  However, there are downsides to composting such as it can cause allergic reactions and it takes a lot of time to turn food into compost.  This can cause backlo...

What's Wrong with Recycling? The System is Broken In 2018 as I was working as a transfer driver, I asked the dispatcher at the transfer station about why we were taking tons of recyclable materials to the landfill a few miles away.  He told me it was because while it was sitting outside for many months getting rained, snowed, and having bird droppings plastered all about it, the recyclables molded and became impossible to recycle.  I then asked how much was there.  He replied, " 37,000 tons "!   To put that into perspective, an eighteen wheeler can legally only weigh 80,000 pounds.  That is 40 tons.  That weighs as much as 925 fully loaded trucks.  It took a couple weeks to get rid of all that garbage and let's not forget the tons of waste already coming in.  Let me reiterate, the system is broken. Why is it broken? You saw in the video above that China used to take a lot of the world's recyclable waste.  Now that has changed.  Bec...

How Does Recycling Work Exactly? Turning Trash into Things We Use I understand the video above is quite silly, however it does point out an important part of the supply chain of waste management.  Not all trash must end up rotting away in landfills.  Many things can be recycled and used once again.  Products like:

Who are the Garbage Men?  The Men and Women who Pick Up our Trash The men and women who pick up our garbage are some of the most hard working and dedicated people.  From the two men above, to those who drive roll offs, transfer trucks, or whatever, this job is far from easy.   According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of work fatalities of a garbage collector was 41.4 per 100,000 in 2023.  In comparison, truck drivers had a 26.8 fatalities per 100,000.      Despite those numbers, many men and women dedicate their lives to keeping America clean.  As I stated in a pervious blog, I hauled trash for four years and the people that I worked with were some of the most amazing people.  They were hard working and took pride in their job.  

  How Landfills Work Mountains of Garbage You may have seen them.  You see a random mountain in the middle of the countryside.  You may see trucks climbing these monolithic heaps and you could have seen a similar video above.  What you are seeing is a hydraulic tipping machine that lifts the trailer into the air an allows gravity to push the trash out of the back.  This is just one way trash is placed into the landfill.   Other ways are: Residential Trucks Photo from: routereadytrucks.com/ Roll Off Trucks   Photo from: www.dumpsters.com Dump Trucks Photo from: www.instagram.com/heritagetruckequipment There are other ways trash is transported to landfills, but the four above are the main ways.  For instance, trains bring in trash to certain landfills, but these are the most common ways trash is brought to the landfills. How Landfills are Started Photo from: www.theleafchronicle.com/ First, the land is purchased by a company or the land is owne...

  Let's Talk Trash Introductory Post Greetings and Happy New Year.  I hope this new year brings happiness and change  in your lives.   I am starting this blog because I have worked in the trash business for  about four years.  Although, I am no longer hauling trash to landfills, I still feel a  strong feeling about the industry and the impact it has on our lives today.