'Zero Waste' or 'Landfills'?

Many waste disposal schemes have emerged to deal with waste produced. There are two such schemes, namely the zero waste and landfill. The zero waste scheme aims at recycling and reusing all the waste that are produced while landfilling is the act of burying the waste underground. The differences between the zero waste and landfill method includes the amount of land required and the environmental problems that may arise.

Landfill requires alot of land to contain the disposed waste. In addition, there are several possible environmental problems caused when the buried waste decomposes and releases toxic chemicals into the soil, thus contaminating it. Potentially harmful gases may also be released and this would pollute the surrounding air. The zero waste scheme, however, emphasizes on recycling and reusing. This method uses cleaner processes and helps to conserve the finite Earth's resources. These makes the zero waste scheme more environmentally friendly.

With regards to Singapore, the zero waste scheme would probably be a better choice. Due to land constraints in Singapore, the waste produced has to be transported to offshore islands to be buried. Thus, large amounts of land have to be set aside for landfill sites, when instead, they could have been used for other useful purposes. Nonetheless, land fill is currently still the main method of waste disposal in Singapore and zero waste scheme may not be totally feasible at the moment as it is very costly. However, the government has been actively encouraging the citizens to reduce, reuse and recycle the waste. In time to come, the zero waste scheme would probably replace the landfill scheme as it is more environmentally friendly.