Toxic Waste

Waste is all that stuff we buy and don't use up. It's the leftover packaging like pop cartons, cereal boxes, and juice boxes. It's the trash that remains after industry creates a product. Or it's the old stuff we just can't use anymore, like old tires. We put all this trash in landfills (garbage dumps) that use up thousands of acres of land. We burn (incinerate) it, and we even ship it to other parts of the world. Every year in the U.S. we throw away 50 million pounds of toothbrushes and that's just a tiny part of all the trash we create. For example, in Florida, if every visitor and business in the state chose to dump their trash at the beach rather than in trash cans, in one year the pile would measure 5' high, 100' wide, and would cover the entire length of Florida's coastline. We create municipal (community/household) trash, agricultural (farming) trash, industrial (factory )trash and mining (like coal, gold, or iron ore mining) trash. There's trash you haven't thought of!! We're running out of places to put it. No one wants it in his or her backyard. Do you?