New Jersey Faces Problems with Its Trash By: Johanna Dovale Every day, citizens produce large amounts of trash. Unfortunately, almost no one knows his destination or ever wonders what happens to him. They believe that as soon as the garbage truck picks up their garbage, it disappears. The reality is that there is a whole process behind every garbage can. In New Jersey there has been a large increase in population; This is causing landfills to overfill with garbage, leaving landfills short of space and increasing toxic fumes. Where does all of New Jersey's waste go? As the population increases, the amount of waste increases. Unfortunately, schools, homes, industries, etc... all contribute to the production of more waste. If people were aware of the negative effects that increased waste is causing in New Jersey, they would try to reduce the amount of waste their household would generate. The problem is that landfills previously used to store trash in New Jersey are too full. So, here's the question citizens should ask themselves: where does my waste go? Because New Jersey can't afford to take more waste to its landfills, it's trucked to other states. Although "some landfills are still in operation... their function has been replaced by transfer stations for typical household and commercial waste, as well as... recycling centers, which recycle a wide variety of materials, from cardboard and paper to bottles and cans to dead leaves" (Geberer, par. 6). Since this occurred, New Jersey sends “more than half of its trash [to other places]” (Gold, 1990, para. 7). New Jersey's waste is exported to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina and India... half of paper... after you went to the grocery store, two or more of these things were not needed. This is something that happens to everyone. It's not like you were actually looking for that specific thing, but maybe you liked how it looked in the store or it had a "very low" price. Other ways to reduce waste include: "Reduce excess paper in the homeReduce packaging wasteRemove mercury from homePrevent food waste and organic compostUse the least hazardous cleaning productsReduce the need for pesticides in your homeFind new life in old furniture, appliances and clothes" These are some tips that everyone should start practicing at home. They are not difficult or impossible to make; It'll just take some getting used to. Everyone should take action to improve New Jersey and the entire world. As the picture says, if you don't do it, who will??