15. Read text 6g and translate it into Russian. Text 6g. Municipal Waste

A typical North American will generate enough garbage in his or her lifetime to equal at least 600 times his or her own weight.

The United States annually produces enough solid waste to completely fill five million large truck trailers, a fleet that would stretch twice around the world if placed end to end.

What is municipal waste?

Municipal waste is residential and commercial rubbish, more commonly known as garbage. It's bottles, cans, disposable diapers, uneaten food, scraps of wood and metal, worn-out tires and used-up batteries, paper and plastic packages, boxes, broken furniture and appliances, and clippings from our lawns and shrubs.

Waste management experts estimate that the average man, woman, and child produce almost two-thirds of a ton of garbage per year. According to these experts, our garbage or municipal waste is:

Paper & paperboard	41.0	Textiles	1.8
Glass	8.2	Wood	3.7
Metals	8.7	Food waste	7.9
Plastics	6.5	Yard waste	17.9
Rubber & leather	2.5	Other	1.7

What is the problem?

Symptomatic of what social critics call our ‘throwaway society’ are the many disposable products we manufacture and use. For example, the United States annually discards 1.6 milliard pens, 2 milliard razors and blades, and 16 milliard diapers.

Waste management experts say that the first law of garbage is ‘Everybody wants us to pick it up, and nobody wants us to put it down.’ People want their trash to disappear quickly and quietly. The last thing they want in their neighbourhood is a smelly and noisy landfill, combustor (trash incinerator), or recycling centre.

These two social forces – the throwaway mentality and the NIMBY ‘not-in-my-back-yard’ syndrome – combine to create a serious and growing municipal waste problem. As we generate more and more waste, we don't know what to do with it. Ineffective or irresponsible waste disposal can potentially degrade our environment, and cause risks to public health. And, waste management experts say that the costs of managing waste are increasing.

Typically, there are three ways to handle waste – burying it, burning it, or reusing it.

The Problem with Landfills

At the same time more waste is being generated, fewer disposal facilities are available to handle it. As of this writing (April, 2011) one-third of the landfills in the United States are full. This means that waste that is now buried in these facilities will have to be buried elsewhere.

At the same time, many other facilities are being closed because their design and operation do not meet standards established to protect human health and the environment.

The Problem with Combustors

When faced with the landfill problem, people typically suggest that waste be burned. But burning municipal waste raises several problematic issues. Waste management experts know that when garbage is burned, toxic ash and air emissions may be produced.

Existing municipal waste combustors could not handle the sheer volume of waste produced today, let alone the volumes projected for the future. Companies that wish to site and build new combustors face enormous costs and stiff resistance from communities and local governments.

The Problem with Recycling

Recycling and reuse of waste materials are the most publicly accepted methods for managing municipal waste. However, these methods have their own special obstacles.

Because of the huge volumes of waste at curbside, it is much easier to landfill or burn the waste. As a result, 80 per cent of municipal waste is landfilled, 10 per cent is burned, and only 10 per centis recycled. Many local waste managers consider recycling programs too costly and not reliable. They believe this because the success in recycling depends heavily on markets for secondary materials as well as public participation. Both fluctuate widely.

How can we handle the municipal waste problem?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has suggested a concept called ‘integrated waste management.’ This concept combines four elements to form a complete system for proper management of municipal waste. These four elements are: source reduction, recycling, waste combustion, landfilling.

Source reduction

Source reduction is accomplished in two specific ways. First, companies can design and manufacture products and packaging with minimum toxic content, minimum volume of material, and with a longer useful life. Second, corporations and households can practice source reduction through selective buying habits and the reuse of products and materials.

Source reduction produces two benefits. It can tower the amount of toxic constituents in products; and it can decrease the generation of large quantities of waste.

Successfully using source reduction as a waste management method:

* slows the consumption of natural resources,

* extends the life of current waste management capabilities

* makes the other methods of waste disposal more effective.

Recycling

Recycling involves separating reusable materials such as glass, paper, and metals from municipal waste. These recyclable materials are then processed and returned to the economy as new products.

Recycling reduces the need for raw materials and, in most cases, the energy required to make a product from raw materials. It also reduces the amount of waste that needs to be buried or burned.

In some communities, recycling even results in a profit for those communities or for companies operating in those communities.

Waste combustion

Waste combustion reduces the bulk of municipal waste. It can also provide energy.

Although waste combustion is not totally risk-free, today's technology in waste combustors should not present a significant risk to human health and the environment. In fact, burning selected wastes is an excellent complement to recycling programs.

Landfilling

Landfilling is still necessary to handle nonrecyclable and noncombustible wastes such as demolition and construction debris. In some cases, landfilling can result in energy production through the recover of methane gas.