We live in a disposable age – from product packaging to cheap clothing that is discarded with each new season and renovations that lead to heaps of old building materials.
Everything we do seems to create more and more garbage. Is it any wonder that Rhode Island’s state Central Landfill will be at capacity in three years if changes are not made?
Thankfully, new management at the R.I. Resource Recovery Corporation is taking steps to be a more responsible steward of the state’s environmental health.
First, the proposed 100-acre expansion of the Johnston landfill is making its way through regulatory channels. Approval must be forthcoming for the project that will add at least another decade to the life of the landfill.
But Executive Director Michael O’Connell knows that adding acreage is not the only answer.
As one way of increasing recycling and reducing dumping (and, in the process, bringing in more money for the state), he has raised the tipping fees charged for commercial dumpers.
In addition, the state has been able to attract a Boston-based company to Johnston, where it will construct a manufacturing facility that turns food waste into organic fertilizer.
Still, more needs to be done. O’Connell wants 30 to 40 percent of all solid waste to go to the recycling plant, up from the current 24 percent.
For years, the landfill was operated with an eye to giving communities in the state a break on the cost of dumping their trash. It is comforting to see that it is now being run with an equal commitment to preserving the state’s natural environment. •
Check that dateline.
Source code lookin’ good. Lemme try an embedded link to my blog.
Fail.