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Down the Drain
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by Paul Tick
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According to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency more than 25% of the food Americans
prepare ends up in the garbage. That is 27 million pounds of food
scraps just wasted each year. A huge portion of it goes down the drain,
through garbage disposal systems built into kitchen sinks. An average
family uses about 700 gallons of water per year to flush food waste
through their disposals.
Besides the incredible waste of our precious water resource, when you
use a garbage disposal you are increasing your water bill and your
electric bill. Food going into the water stream also puts a huge demand
on already overburdened municipal sewage systems. This leads to
increase maintenance and repairs and eventually to higher taxes. When
sewer systems overflow (and they do at the rate of 40,000 times per
year), they release raw sewage that contain high levels of nitrogen,
chemical contaminants, and microbial pathogens into local waterways
endangering all of us and our environments.
Any home plumbing systems can easily be overburdened with waste from
garbage disposals. This leads to messy and sometimes expensive repairs.
Homes with their own septic system that use a garbage disposal are
stuck with emptying their septic systems twice as often and have many
more failures and repairs of their systems. The Environmental
Protection Agency notes that at least 10% of these systems back up
their waste into the ground or even into homes. Failing septic systems
are the third most common cause of ground water contamination.
Another thing to think about is the energy and raw materials it takes
to manufacture a disposal and then, when it breaks down, we have
another piece of useless junk sitting for hundreds of years in our
overflowing landfills and poisoning the earth.
Dumping food into the garbage can is not a useful alternative given
that it just ends up in the landfill. The proper method of disposal is
composting. Composting your non-animalbased food waste not only reduces
the amount of material headed for the sewer or the landfill but also
provides excellent fertilizer for your garden or flowerbeds. Composting
is easier than you think and there are numerous articles and guides to
help you get started if you have not already done so. As for your
garbage dispposer; you can simply not use it anymore or remove it if
you have the most basic electric and plumbing skills (or find a friend
to do it for you).
And, speaking of stuff going down the drain, what are you doing with
your leftover prescription meds? According to the Sierra Club, you
should dispose of unused medications in your trash can rather than
flushing them down the toilet or sink. Sewage- treatment plants can't
remove all chemicals. When pharmaceuticals go in they eventually find
their way into our waterways and cause extensive damage to marine life.
Male fish are found to be becoming female because of drug contaminants
in waterways and researchers even found characteristics of both sexes
in some individual fish.
Always keep in mind that there is plenty for each of us to do to make
our life more sustainable. While doing your share, it is at least just
as important to join with others to demand corporate responsibility so
join your national and local environmental organizations and get active
now.
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References
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http://www.greenerchoices.org/printProduct.cfm?product=garbagedisposer
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/mrgreen/2009/06/what-to-do-with-your-meds.html
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