Environment: Gold in Garbage

Each day the average American tosses out more than 51 Ibs. of solid waste. Garbage is piling up so fast that cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco may run out of landfill dumps by the end of this year. The obvious answer is to re-use all kinds of materials that are now being junked. But so far, the U.S. lacks enough incentives to make "recycling" economically attractive. Americans have become so prosperous that old ideas like deposit bottles no longer work. Who besides tiny children wants to lug empties back to the store just...

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