Did you know: the Future of Garbage is Power

            Mmmm, garbage.The thing nobody wants to or cares to think about. It is the stuff we have already used and the stuff we don't want to see again. That used diaper, see you later. The food in the fridge that has gone bad, adios. All the other disgusting trash that we want to get out of our sight, goodbye. However, these things still have uses left, and not through recycling. We can use the garbage for actual power by burning it.
          First, there are two ways we can use trash for energy, one that is in use today, and a potentially more effective way that is still in testing.

• First there are the Wast to Energy facilities that basically burn garbage as if it were coal. It is burned and the heat produces steam that then powers the turbines which create electricity. It is not used in many countries that still have plenty of space for landfills, such as the US, but in countries in more limited land, like the United Kingdom, these facilities are quite common. It creates less pollution than you might expect, saves space, and pollutes less than trash sitting in a landfill. The last statement is true because the trash not only leaks chemicals into the soil and our water supply, but it also emits Methane which is a more dangerous greenhouse gas than Carbon Dioxide.
• Next we have the landfill that is being tested. Bio reactors use bacteria to break down trash through either aerobic or anaerobic. Aerobic bio reactors use bacteria that require oxygen and anaerobic bacteria do not require oxygen. The problem is the produces a large amount of landfill gas that is harmful to the environment. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!! Landfill gas is burnable, so we can burn it to produce more energy and limit pollution, but for some reason we are not doing that.

          We need to make more of these two kinds of landfills to save space and help the environment. Both the planet and humans win. However, it is not a priority to many people so these kind of landfills are not being built, but we can make it a priority. If enough people become knowledgeable about this subject and talk about it on social media these new landfills will be created and replace the old ones.

Fun Fact: Americans generate 226 million metric tons of trash a day, that's about 2 kilograms of trash daily.