What Happens When the Landfills are All Full?

According to recent figures, the United States is considered as the number 1 garbage-producing country in the planet. The Environmental Protection Agency or the EPA, states that the United States has 10,000 municipal and 3,000 urban landfills. The sad thing is that most of these landfills are tightly sealed, to prevent the garbage from leaching and contaminating nearby rivers, lakes, streams or seas.

The tight sealing of these landfills though effectively inhibits the natural degradation of organic wastes. What happens once our landfills reach full capacity? 

Because environment advocates and government planners worry about the threat of a full-blown garbage crisis, more and more programs are now being implemented to prevent the overflowing of our landfills. More states and counties have now adopted a wide array of recycling and waste recovery programs.

How to be energy efficient and save money as the heat rises

(ARA) - With temperatures - and therefore, electric bills - rising, American homeowners are looking for the most effective ways to make the biggest dent in their energy bills, but many may be overlooking some of the most important energy-saving strategies.

Homeowners are more likely to do simple things around the house to conserve energy, according to the Lennox Home Energy Report Card Survey. These steps include changing air filters in a heating and cooling system on a regular basis, swapping out incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs, and turning down the temperature setting on a hot water heater.

While these activities can certainly help save energy and money, Brandon Chase, an energy efficiency expert and product development manager at home heating and cooling manufacturer Lennox, says homeowners need to take a close look at how they heat and cool their homes if they truly want to make a substantial dent in their energy bills.

"More than half of a home's energy costs comes from heating and cooling the house," says Chase. "If you can heat or cool your home more efficiently, then you'll be well on your way to seeing lower energy bills."