Wasted: A new KCRW series

By Caleigh Wells and Frances Anderton

U.S. landfills are expected to fill up in 15 years, according to Waste Business Journal. “Away” can mean storm drains, oceans, the stomachs of marine animals, or a giant floating island of trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Even when the local solid waste infrastructure is working properly, “away” means a nearby landfill. But the average landfill in the United states will be full in the next 15 years. And solid waste is only part of the story. There’s the greenhouse gas methane that’s emitted by the United States’ 133 billion pounds of annual rotting, wasted food. There’s the 1.9 billion metric tons of carbon emitted every year by the trucks and cars that cart around our food and our waste and ourselves.