Reseach Proposal

Garbage Problem in New York City

I was interested in the disposal of garbage in New York City. Because, in my home town, Japan, there were some garbage problem when I was child, I am concerned about the pollution and the disposal of garbage. Every day, a lot of garbage from New York City is carried to landfills in other states. According to Sara Kugler (2005), there is enormous garbage, as huge as the weight of the Empire State Building in one week, and this garbage is carried to another place by many trucks, because New Yorkers cannot dispose their own garbage by themselves. Naturally, most people are afraid of living near the landfill because of pollution, but some states keep receiving New York City’s garbage because they can get some money from New York City. According to David B. Caruso (2005) and Sara Kugler (2005), to solve this problem, there are some solutions. First, we are already protected from the pollution of the garbage in the landfill, because the landfill has protective liners. They prevent the pollutants in the garbage from escaping to the ground, and we do not get a bad smell or see it directly. But these have also some troubles. That is, liners cannot keep forever, and rotting boards cause a stench, so we have to remove vapors from the garbage. Second, the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, proposed that they create their own waterside transfer stations. This plan can reduce the pollution from exhaust of trucks, let the city traffic condition get better, and help protect low-income people from air pollution.
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Now, New York City has become one of the biggest and highest technology cities in the world. But with this development, there are a lot of problem, of pollution and garbage, because New York City is not big enough to fit all the buildings, people, and
garbage into one city. But New Yorkers have responsibilities that to dispose of their own garbage by themselves, and people in other states must not receive garbage from New York City with risk of illness of pollution. So I plan three solutions. First, we have to reduce garbage itself. Some garbage can be reused or recycled, so we need to think how to dispose it before we throw it away. Second, we have to work to reduce their garbage before products are made or we get them. For example, we can reduce the wrapping or bags of products. Third, we have to devise how to dispose our garbage, and we need to set some safety landfill or garbage disposal center with high technology.

I have found several articles that give background information on the garbage disposal in New York City, and have found a useful website that helps to describe the problem. I am still looking for some solutions to improve this problem.

References:

Caruso, D. B. (2005, July. 12). As landfills close in big cities, garbage travels farther. The Associated Press State & Local Wire. Retrieved on Oct. 27, 2005, from Lexis-Nexis.

Kugler, S. (2005, Jun. 20). NYC Squabbles Over Daily Trash Management. Associated Press Online. Retrieved on Oct. 25, 2005, from Lexis-Nexis.