A solid waste disposal and recycling facility for Dallas, Texas

Getting rid of solid waste, which was a relatively simple matter not too many years ago, has become a major and complex problem. It is already a significant item in the budget of most communities, generally surpassed only by schools and roads. In the future, the solid waste problem will become bigger, more expensive, and even more complex. In 1995i for example, the solid waste generated in New York State will amount to almost 80 million tons per year if present, well-established trends continue. The cost for disposal of this amount of waste will be between one and four billion dollars per year, depending on the method of disposal. The strictly technical problems of handling and disposal are increasing, largely because of the growing variety and complexity of the solid wastes themselves, which in turn can be attributed to the ever-increasing sophistication and convenience trends of our affluent society. Political considerations and natural conditions further complicate the search for a reasonable solution. It is now evident that the industrial economy of the United States must undergo a shift from a use and discard approach to a closed cycle of use and reuse or else face the alternative of a congested planet that has turned into a polluted trash heap. The purpose of this document is to establish a feasible alternative for such action in resource reclamation and to propose such an alternative for the Dallas Metroplex area.