It doesn't just disappear. If you don't live near a landfill, it's because your trash is shipped out to a landfill near someone else's house. I recently moved from New York City, where space is at such a premium they are certainly not going to give up any to house trash. Instead, they ship it out--mostly to Pennsylvania, but also to New Jersey, Virginia, even Ohio. There are only two places even in the state of New York where NYC trash goes.

Nobody likes to see or smell trash, nor do they want to have to worry about what's leeching into the groundwater. Unfortunately, many do not get a choice about it--and it's not even their trash! Generally, waste ends up that those in poorer areas end up with the brunt of it, simply due to their lower economic leverage.

Garbage is not the only area of our lives in which this happens. Drugs, disease, war--we don't want it, but we fail to acknowledge that our actions affect others. Our need for green lawns and bottled water means that someone somewhere else baths in and drinks from dirty disease-infested rivers. Our consumption of material goods, of "needing" a new flat-screen HD tv or a Wii for our kids goes on while other kids can't even attend school.

Maybe we don't want garbage or anything else toxic in our neighborhoods, but neither does anyone else. We need to change our lifestyles and take action to make sure that everyone can live a safe and healthy life, not just those that can afford to make it disappear from their own backyards.