Pennsylvania

Consumption

Consumption is not particularly different in Pennsylvania than in the rest of the United States. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis provides gross state product numbers but does not disaggregate the gross state product to provide citizens’ expenditures. While per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was about $39,578 in 2009, ranking Pennsylvania 18th nationally, per capita income was much less. Assuming a savings rate of 2 percent, 13 million Pennsylvanians consumed approximately $24,000 annually in goods and services.

Waste Management

Pennsylvanians produced over one ton of waste per person during the first decade of the 21st century. In 2004–09, Pennsylvania disposed of 22–25 million tons of municipal waste annually. Imported waste, mostly from New York and New Jersey, accounts for 7–10 million tons of this total. Since many Pennsylvanians recoil at the idea of accepting other peoples’ waste, landfills tend to underreport the amount of waste coming into the state. In addition, the way waste is transported both from out of state and within the state makes a full accounting difficult. Nevertheless, even if imported waste is underreported, the fact remains that Pennsylvania has been the greatest importer of out-of-state waste since the 1990s.

Environmental Problems

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Pennsylvania struggled with a myriad of environmental problems, one of which was the existence of over 1,000 small, unregulated trash dumps. The rise of the environmental movement and the passage in 1966 of the Solid Waste Management Act created momentum to deal with the problem, but political will was absent and business was unwilling to stomach increases in solid waste disposal costs. This was the beginning of conflicts between environmental groups and business in Pennsylvania that continue into the 21st century. Waste disposal firms were not obliged to cooperate in establishing tougher regulations and higher costs. A series of environmental accidents coupled with media coverage, environmental education, and awareness—and the fact that waste is visible, often offends the olfactory senses, and is typically transported over roadways—brought calls for action from citizens across the state living near these dumps. Of particular concern was the impact of landfill effluent contaminating drinking water supplies. Action came in 1968 with the creation of the Department of Environmental Resources (subsequently renamed [Page 662]the Department of Environmental Protection) and the passage of the Solid Waste Management Act to prevent pollution from the disposal of solid waste.

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