How Do Informal Collectors Work In Open Landfills

The people working on the waste fields “the pickers” are people like any of us. VIk Muniz mentioned that he identified with them because many of them were born in the same or even better situation than him (lower middle class), but didn’t were as lucky so they end up in the trash fields.

In order to keep homeless people off the streets and to keep them from panhandling, it is necessary for all homeless people to be transported to landfills. At these landfills across the United States, there are viable housing options, food supplies, and jobs for many homeless individuals. Landfills contain ample amounts of building material, cardboard boxes, and oftentimes old furniture. Individuals can use anything at the landfills to build themselves a new home on site. Under this system, homeless individuals will obtain shelter, while making practical use of materials that were thrown away.

Heather Roger claims our current garbage disposal methods are short term and etiquette. Rogers’s position is clear that we need to minimize the use of landfills and create better means to discard trash. In supporting Rogers’s environment views I think that we need to create a more economic and environmental friendly garbage disposal system. Heather Rogers and Lars Eighner both acknowledge the issue with society’s throwaway mentality. Eighner proves that we throw away perfectly working stuff, having survived off others discarded materials. Eighner argues against excessive waste we create but does not have any prospected solutions. Whereas Rogers acknowledges the obvious need to minimize our consumption of waste but argues the need

With the advancement of poverty in the United States it is time to solve the homeless situation. Thousands of Americans are homeless and taking up space on the city’s streets. A simple solution to this problem would be to allow the homeless to reside in landfills. They would be able to sort through the waste to find appropriate cardboard boxes to live in. This could also be used as a form of employment allowing them to sort through recycling to improve the environment. It is also a statistical fact that many Americans throw away food that goes untouched. Not only would they have a permanent residence of their choosing but this also insures that they would have plenty of food to maintain their strength to sort trash.

In “Picking Up” Robin Nagle enthusiastically describes why New York City’s Department of Sanitation is so significant to our day to day city life. This department picks up about 11,000 tons of trash as well as 2,000 tons of recycling daily. If it was not for them the city would be completely unlivable. As the anthropologist-in-residence for New York City's Department of Sanitation, Robin Nagle explains with many explanations why The Department of Sanitation is so vital and why they are just as important as any police officer or fireman out there. If it was not for those men and woman who remove our trash and recyclables, our city would be completely over run with trash. Not only is this completely disgusting, but there are so many diseases

In Mantua Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, privately owned land once stood as one of the most hazardous waste sites in the United States. This site known as the Helen Kramer Landfill included 66-acres of waste, 11 acres of unfavorably conditioned vegetation, and no onsite residents. Prior to the early 1960’s, Helen Keller landfill was a sand and gravel excavation operation, but soon began to incorporate the disposal of waste material for about a decade. After the landfill received numerous inspections and notices between 1971 and 1977, the owner Helen Kramer was informed to cease operation of the landfill. As New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reports indicated and area residents stated, “sporadic chemical

Many individuals are accustomed to waste at least a portion of what they buy, whether it is food, clothes, furniture, supplies, or materials worldwide. According to the article: “On Dumpster Diving” many valuable items were found by the homeless who searched the dumpster for food. Surprisingly, they found useful items that helped them survive throughout each day. In fact, the products were worth for the exchange of money. At certain times, I myself may be considered to be a wasteful person during certain times such as, not finishing my drink and throwing more than half of it away. While rushing at work during break, this is a usual situation for many people Although, it isn't necessarily on purpose it is considered wasteful, valuable and influence advertising.

Because of people’s wasteful habits, a wide variety of items end up in the dumpsters; some are incredibly useful and even in good condition. In his article, “On Dumpster Diving,” formerly homeless author Lars Eighner describes how he became dependent on dumpster diving for survival. Eighner includes a definition of “dumpster diving,” utilizes irony, and makes a comparison between dumpster divers and can scroungers to show that even though dumpster diving is beneficial to a homeless man like himself, society needs to be aware of their wasteful habits. At the beginning of his article, Eighner redefines “dumpster diving” to change people’s negative views on the term.

In his essay, "On Dumpster Diving", Lars Eighner speaks of his time spent as a homeless man. Eighner states in detail the steps needed in order to successfully become a scavenger of dumpsters based on his own experiences. Though the essay could appear to just be a useful manual there is an underlying message. Lars Eighner effectively uses argumentation, process analysis, and tone to demonstrate that society is wasteful.

In America, while homelessness and poverty runs rampant, while war veterans and Phds find themselves on the streets, while the price of living and the ability to find food for America’s poorest grows ever more difficult, we, as a culture, still look upon practices like dumpster diving as disgusting and believe them to be only practiced by the lowest and most uneducated of American society. This is no longer a practical image of the practice or the people behind it. As poverty is ever prevalent in the United States, many are forced to find food outside of conventional needs, especially in a culture that exceedingly devalues assistance to the poor. Simultaneously, with rampant consumerism and our propensity to throw

In the essay “Dumpster Diving,” by Lars Eighner tells the story of a homeless man who speaks of his survival on the streets. Eighner was not your everyday, typical type of guy. He has an interested in Dumpsters, the year he became homeless he took pleasure in ‘dumpster diving’. Eighner gives information about what it takes to be a professional scavenger. Eighner talks about his success scavenging “Except for jeans, all my clothes come from the dumpster” (192). He talks about how he is a consumer but a ‘less wasteful’ one. Throughout the essay Eighner shows the importance of one man's trash is another man's treasure. Diving has made Eighner realize things that people got rid of by throwing away, still have good use in it. He gained a lot of

As vice president of Association of Pickers of Jardim Gramacho (ACAMJG), Valter, explain interesting fact that almost 50% of the garbage material can be recycled but people do not pay

Household waste management is a growing problem in the United States and many other parts of the world. “The U.S. creates a lot of household solid waste per day per person. If there is a huge population of millions of people in a small area, household garbage can easily accumulate to 100,000 pounds per day. A few years ago, residents made a million tons of city waste per year and a billion tons of industrial solid wastes. In 2006, the U.S. residents generated half of 251 tons million tons of municipal solid waste per year and about 8 billion tons of industrial solid waste. This tremendous amount of waste includes both hazardous and nonhazardous waste. (Massawe, et.al, 2014)” A better understanding of household behavior is needed to assist

My main concern about waste disposal is toward poverty. In every society, for it to work effectively the waste disposal has to be handled properly. The lack of proper waste disposal can contribute for the underdevelopment of the community. For instance, in poorer community that does not have resources to dispose of the trash properly create a series of problems. For example, when there are a lot of trashes in a community, it will prevent investors to invest in a community, the housing market, schools and stores will decline, in consequence the houses will loose its value. This will create a ripple effect because people will start immigrating toward a better place where it is much cleaner. Families will try to move to a better place where their kids can have a better future. I ask myself who wants to live in a dirty environment? I hope nobody. That’s why I believe that the government should help the poorest communities about the ways to handle waste disposal, and better educate them about recycling.

Recycling is an essential part of reducing the amount of waste filling up landfills. Recycling materials cannot only reduce waste but pollution as well. Unfortunately the typical recycling programs such as curbside pick-up and recycling centers require significant commitment from the public to be successful which generally leads to low participation. However there may be a solution to the problem. The pollution prevention and reduction program suggests the use of materials recovery facilities. Materials recovery facilities sort out recyclable materials from other waste products such as compostable items. By sorting out the waste at one central location more items get recycled and waste is reduced without public participation. A recent article by Wang (2010) suggests, “The installation of materials recovery facilities (MRFs) can be an alternative solution to the problem of low participation of voluntary household and curbside recycling in fast-growing cities.” Materials recovery facilities can be a viable solution for waste management problems where public participation is an obstacle. This solution also provides less societal impact because lifestyle change is not as critical.