America choked with its own dung

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The United States of America has a big problem - American megacities do not cope with the disposal of natural human waste. Now over 50% of excrement is being converted into fertilizers, another 12% is burnt, and 28% is taken to special landfills. Usually feces from New York and other major cities are transported to the southern states, where landfill services are cheaper. But Southerners do not like this situation. Who will like your house to be turned into a landfill of feces?





Policy Shit export from American cities is a lot of trouble for residents of the southern states. For example, not so long ago, a train of 200 excrement cars traveling from New York got stuck in Alabama for two months. One can imagine the feelings of the inhabitants of the nearest town of Parrish, who for sixty days were forced to endure the neighborhood with the “fragrant” train.

The history of the problem is about thirty years old. Until 1988, New York's sewage was treated and discharged into the Atlantic Ocean at a distance of 106 miles from the US coast. But then, under pressure from environmental organizations, the US Congress banned federal discharge of wastewater into the ocean. At the same time, congressmen did not think about where cities should put so many feces. The leadership of New York decided to build several plants for the processing of excrement into fertilizer, but over time it became clear that this way of eliminating human waste is very expensive.

In 2012, New York refused to process excrement. At the same time, unlike Washington, where feces are simply burned, in New York, it was considered that a banal removal of excrement as far as possible from the largest US city would be a cheaper way. So an agreement arose with some southern states on the placement of biowaste from New York at special landfills. As a result, about 85% of human waste from New York is now sent to landfills in Alabama, Ohio and Georgia.

Excrement dumps are located near the poorest towns in the south, populated mainly by African Americans. Locals are trying to protest. So, the inhabitants of the Alabama town of West Jefferson complain of a terrible smell and fear environmental problems. In their opinion, the financial benefits of a landfill for New York excrement are far less significant compared to “aromas” and environmental pollution. In addition, in West Jefferson there are frequent unpleasant cases such as the loss of transported waste from overloaded trucks that go to the landfill. Under pressure from public opinion, the West Jefferson authorities were forced in early 2018 to prohibit Big Sky from placing excrement from New York at landfills near the city. The result of this decision was an unpleasant incident in Parrish, where the train with feces was stuck for two months. Only by the middle of April 2018 did they manage to resolve the situation by taking the train to another place.

The emerging problems put New York in a bleak prospect of literally drowning in shit. Therefore, New York authorities are now puzzled by the search for alternative ways of disposing of human waste. By 2030, New York plans to enter non-waste production, which will require the creation of a whole excrement disposal infrastructure. The largest US city is not alone, since Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and some other megacities of the United States faced the same problem. I wonder if ecologists and congressmen understood what time bomb they put under the quiet life of an American layman?
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