Interesting fact about our Land Use.
Even with all of this careful planning and engineering, trash in landfills does not always
degrade quickly. Dr. William Rathje, a professor at the University of Arizona, studies everyday trash! He formed a group called the Garbage Project to discover more about what is in America's landfills.
In a laboratory, newspapers degrade very quickly - sometimes within a day. Dr. Rathje found that this is not the case when the newspaper is actually put in the landfill. In 1989, his team dug up a newspaper from 1952 that could still be read perfectly!
They also found that other paper and organic (food) wastes that were thought to degrade quickly were present in the landfills. He found other newspapers, grass clippings that were still green, hot dogs that looked good enough to eat, and in one case an ear of corn, husks and all, mixed in with material dated from 1971!
What he didn't find however, was what others expected to be there -- plastic, foam packaging, condoms, tires, and disposable diapers were all present in much smaller amounts than experts had thought! (They were all there though.)
What does this all mean? Recycling paper and food wastes, rather than sending these to landfills, can save significant landfill space. That way you can keep using the same landfill for a much longer time!