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To the Editor:

Virginia is among the top three states in our country for accepting trash.

The most recent report from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality discloses that approximately 5% of the trash accepted at Virginia landfills in 2020 came from out-of-state (that percentage up from the previous year). So, what is the source of all this trash? We are.

When the news of the proposed mega landfill in Cumberland became known back in 2018, members of our household decided to look at how we were handling our trash. We found out a few simple changes can make a world of difference in the amount of trash we take to the transfer station.

• I recalled how when I was growing up, my mother would take the plastic bread bag and wash it until it literally fell apart. Solution – we started washing out plastic bags and using them more than once. Simple, but what a big difference.

• We purchased a composter and now rather than throwing left over food scraps and certain paper items in the trash bag, we put them in the composter. Makes a great fertilizer for the garden.

• Since we live in the country, we started burning our paper products that could not be put in the composter.

• We separated out the remaining trash with a can for plastics, a can for steel (i.e., soup and vegetable cans), a can for aluminum and a can for other items that do not fit into any of the other categories.

We now go to the transfer station once every four to six weeks rather than every week. All the above may not work for you. Get the members of your household involved, and I am sure you can find ways to reduce the amount of trash your household generates. We all must do our part to protect our environment and our water supply – just look at what is happening to Lake Meade out west.

Do your part – help protect our environment.

Betty Myers

Cartersville