One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
At this time of year, however, many Americans are trying to make use many ideas about the items that clutter their homes. From new gifts that are real treasures, to old items that have not been used forever, many Americans see the beginning of the new year as a time to sort out the oldest items to make room for the new. And after donating things that can still be used by someone, much that remains is left to the commercial trash service. Left at the curb in both recycling bins and large garbage cans, commercial trash service employees are extra busy in the days and weeks surrounding the holidays of Christmas and New Year’s.
Depending on where people live, commercial trash service regulations vary, as to the number of times that garbage is collected. No matter what the cost or frequency, however, commercial trash service is a needed service in all communities. Whether you are required to roll your trash to the end of the drive in an approved container or wether you are able to set your trash out in containers of your choosing, few would argue that our neighborhoods and cities would be in a real mess if it were not for reliable trash service.
Waste Management Is a Growing Concern In Some Parts of the Country
In some cities trash removal costs are covered by city and property taxes. In other parts of the country or in very small communities, waste management actually involves individual residents taking their trash to the city dump. What ever method is employed, however, an increasing number of people look toward recycling efforts as a way to eliminate some of what has become a growing amount of trash that takes years to decompose. In fact, as cities struggle to find newer and larger locations to dump the trash that they collect, other cities employ large staffs of people to turn and rotate collected trash from years past to facilitate better decomposition. Consider these statistics about the nation’s trash industry:
Questions you might want ask when calling an attorney:

• $30 a ton is what it costs on average to recycle trash.
• $50 a ton is what it costs on average to send trash to a landfill.
• $11.5 billion is spent every year to clean up litter in America.
• 87% of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs.
• 20 different industries are included in the waste management process.
• the average American will throw away 600 times the amount of his or her adult weight in garbage in a lifetime.
• 4 pounds of trash is generated by the average person every day.
• Recycling just one ton of cardboard saves over 9 cubic yards of landfill space.
• 25% to 55% of all waste generated in large cities is collected by municipal authorities, according to the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements.

Trash and Pollution Continue to be a Major Worldwide Concern
The end of the year 2017 brought the news that China, one of the world’s locations that is struggling the most with pollution and trash problems. On a day when persistent and heavy smog caused hundreds of flight delays and cancellations in and around Beijing, the additional results included snarled traffic and higher vegetable prices in the capital. This environmental situation in China is an indicator that we can no longer ignore the effect that our waste is having on our world. From the exhaust waste caused by vehicles to the waste that we generate from every day life, few can ignore the effect that our consumerism and obsession with fossil fuels are having on the environment.
Perhaps this holiday season is the perfect time to make sure that your family is dong its part to reduce, reuse, and recycle. The waste hierarchy, which is commonly referred to as “3 Rs,” classifies waste management strategies according to their desirability in terms of eliminating the waste that we generate. As your family begins the process of celebrating this holiday season it might be the time to examine the need for your family to be more careful about the trash that they generate. Recycling all of the cardboard, paper, plastics, and glass that you can is a step in the right direction.