Los Angeles County residents produce about 10 pounds of trash per day, including both residential and commercial waste. However, much of this material is reusable and can be remanufactured into new products and help create jobs. What to do with the remaining waste is a big problem. The inexpensive landfills are closing as they reach their limit in the next few years. In Los Angeles, garbage that used to cost $25 per ton to carry to a local landfill, will probably have to be put on rail cars and shipped 100 miles to landfills in surrounding dessert communities. The cost will rise to over $100 per ton.

The issue of solid waste disposal is really an issue of how we manage resources. Can we afford to use paper, plastics and metals only once before we throw them away? Are there ways of reclaiming some to the value from our waste stream and possibly getting a financial return before we throw them away? Can we afford to act as if our trash does not exist once we drop it into a trash can? No single alternative listed here can provide a solution. However, the days of throwing away trash and forgetting about it are over.