Poor Waste Management

1. Poor Waste Management BY: Caroline Mink

2. Rome Waste Management Rome’s sewers were built just like our sewers today. They were shaped like a half circle or in ditch form and covered in stone. The Romans were the first to ever create a sewage system for there civilization. This was because people would die from waste exposure. The citizens' of Rome would often become ill or die from drinking water because it contained sewage. This water is very harmful to humans and can poison them. To stop the illnesses and death in the Roman Empire the Romans built aqueducts. The aqueducts would supply fresh water to the empire. Sewage would be transported from a latrine and then would be deposited in either a stream or river.

3. Rome Waste Management cont. The waste that would be carried through the channels to the aqueducts would be dumped some place else. This sewage system changed in Rome when the aqueducts were created. Before they existed the Romans would dump their waste on to the streets. The Cloaca Maxima was one of the earliest roman sewage systems and was constructed in about 600 B.C.E. Cloaca Maxima stood for great sewer. It was one of the oldest monuments in Rome. There were many ditches that were apart of the sewage system in Ancient Rome. The Cloaca Maxima was one of those many.

4. U.S Waste Management There was recorded to be about 4.4 pounds of waste per day for each person living in the U.S. Today the U.S. is trying to find an alternative way for discarding waste. They are trying to make it more technological. Within the whole nation, 27,000 organizations are in the waste management business. To decrease the amount of waste that goes into landfills use the three R’s. These are reduce, reuse, and recycle. The annual amount of waste is 200 million tons. This was found out to be true by the U.S. statistics.

5. U.S. Waste Management cont. The nation handles waste three different ways. They are by generators, treatment, and storage or disposal facilities. Many untreated waste products are flowing from the toilets of citizens to creeks and streams. Dumping into creeks and streams is illegal, yet the people of the U.S. still dump. When waste is dumped into a creek it exposes people to it and it could then sicken them. Dumping kills all life in an environment especially the animals that are actually in to water where the waste was dumped.

6. Questions For Experts How does your company get rid of waste? What methods do you use? Have you heard of the US trying to use an alternative way to dispose of waste? If so what do you think we should do? If not, what do you think the US could do to create a environmentally friendly way to discard of waste? On average, about how much waste does your company dispose of per day? Has the amount of waste that your company is collecting increased, decreased or stayed the same over the years? If it has increased, by how much has it increased? And if it has decreased how much has it decreased by?

7. Expert Responses Rumpke offers a complete solid waste solution for this region. Rumpke owns a sanitary landfill for waste and offers residential and commercial recycling programs. We also have a composting facility on site. Any trash that comes to the landfill is converted into renewable energy through a methane gas recovery system that converts landfill gas to natural gas. When residents participate in recycling those materials are collected separately and transported to our recycling center for processing. Our landfill is a state of the art facility which uses a liner system to protect the environment. As mentioned methane gas is recovered and converted into useable energy. At recycling we use single stream technology to separate fiber materials from containers. Magnets, an eddy current and optical scanners are used to separate containers. Once materials are separated they are shipped to various manufacturers and used as raw materials. Currently, there is a push to enhance recycling efforts and find alternatives to disposal. Rumpke is constantly researching these new technologies. Right now, landfills are still the best available technology to dispose of waste that can't be recycled. More people have to make the decision to recycle. Society must demand that manufacturers find new ways to use recyclables and companies like Rumpke have to continue to bring the best technology to the process. -7,000 tons per day at Rumpke Sanitary Landfill. It has increased, but usually shifts according to seasons and the economy. If the economy is thriving waste goes up because there are more products being purchased and manufactured, as well as more construction. Generally, it shifts within a 1,000 tons per day if any changes at all occur.

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9. Will the U.S be able to fix the problems of Rome with our modern day technologies?? I do not thing the problems of Rome will be able to be fixed with our technologies today. Only some of the problems will be able to be fixed but not all of them. I think this because take waste management for example. In Rome, they had a very poor waste management system if any at one point. They had waste overflowing on the streets. Today we have improved on how we dispose of waste but we haven't fixed them for good. Our nation has come up with the three R’s and landfills to help discard of waste. Landfills aren't exactly environmentally friendly so we haven't completely solved Rome's problems. Therefore, I think only some of the problems that occurred in Ancient Rome will be solved and fixed for good.