Landfills are expensive to operate from every standpoint they can be observed from. There is an abundant amount of landfills, but not every state has one. In order to keep these huge dumpsites in operation, it would cost thousands of dollars. Blanchfield explains that ”Many major cities have already exhausted their landfill capacity and must export their trash, at significant expense, to other communities or even to other states and countries” (Blanchfield par. 6).Blanchfield’s point is that even though America has landfills, they are not properly located in the spaces that America truly needs them. Because landfills are not located in every state, the states without them have to ship the trash to a state that is potentially a long distance away. This is defective in two ways: chemical pollution and shipping cost. The states that are exporting trash have to risk chemicals leaking into the air or spilling on the ground. The trash has to be shipped weekly in order to keep up with the amount of trash Americans are producing. Shipping trash weekly gets expensive due to the trucks going back and forth from state to state. In order for landfills to be in business, they have to meet special requirements, which also makes them expensive to operate. Brown believes that, “The sealed landfills that meet new regulations are more expensive to operate than the old landfills” (Brown par. 9). The landfills that are striving to meet these special requirements are appreciated, because without them there would be an higher amount of chemical pollution to the world. If landfills are America's best shot with dealing with this trash, then Americans would be better to take expensive precautions. Landfills today are the best solution to this trash madness. Although landfills sound like the worst idea for dealing with trash, there is not a more effective alternative. Sam Martin, writer of “Recycling Can Reduce Pollution,” explains in the article, “... a trash barge called the Mobro 4000 motored up and down the Eastern seaboard looking for a landfill in which to dump 3,200 tons of New York State's garbage” (Martin par. 2). Martin believes America has no other option for the amount of trash Americans produce. America has to have a place for these barges and trucks to dump this massive amount of trash. America has not developed a stronger alternative for the amount of trash being produced. Americans do not commonly participate in recycling, and trash can not be incinerated because that will give the nation terrible smog. Blanchfield explains that most Americans just throw away recyclables rather than separating the trash out (Blanchfield par. 3).Even though recycling will not eliminate all of the trash that goes to landfills, recycling will tremendously reduce the amount of plastic in landfills. America has to have landfills to deal with this trash, but they could take more precautions using the landfills. Currently, America and other countries are burying trash in crevices in the ground without thinking of wildlife, freshwater, or health issues. Scientists should be working to discover another way to get rid of this chemical filled trash.