Tennessee

Tennessee is a state in the southern United States. The eastern half is largely mountainous, as the Appalachian Mountains run through it and the Mississippi River forms the state's westernmost border. With 42,143 square miles and a 2010 population of 6,346,105, its density is 19th among American states. Tennessee's economy includes agriculture, tourism (based in part on the scenic mountains of the east and in part in the rich musical heritages of the cities of Nashville and Memphis), and transportation. The Memphis International Airport in the southwestern corner of the state serves as an important transit center for air cargo as it is a hub for the FexEx Corporation.

Tennessee generates approximately 13.5 million tons of solid waste per year. Where does all this waste go? Tennessee's westernmost city, Memphis, is notable for important developments in U.S. waste history in the 19th and 20th centuries. The city was plagued by yellow fever epidemics during the 1870s, losing one-tenth of its population to the disease in 1873 alone. Five years later, an epidemic reduced the population by 75 percent due to deaths and residents fleeing, and the city lost its charter temporarily. In response, the National Board of Health brought investigators in to develop a modern sewage system, developed under the principal investigator Col. George E. Waring. This began a series of improvements in the city's public sanitary systems over the following century, including the development of garbage collection services through the Department of Public Works.

The department grew substantially after World War II, hiring primarily African American men to collect the city's garbage. Due to declining work safety conditions and the mayor's refusing to recognize the workers’ right to organize, the Public Works Department went on strike in early 1968. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. joined the strike, attracting international attention. While the strike is most famous for King's assassination (which was quickly followed by the city's offering a contract to the workers), it also marked an important linking of the civil rights movement and the labor movement over waste issues. In the past, Tennesseans largely relied on burning waste in backyard piles or dumping in rural zones, creeks, or unofficial and city dumps. As the population rose, so did solid waste disposal. The ever-expanding convenience packaging associated with throwaway, one-serving items significantly heightened the degree of waste.

By the mid-1980s, the waste stream was overflowing. City and county governments were managing their waste in a myriad of ways, some providing removal services to landfills that lacked liner systems, leading to seepage into groundwater. Many cities and counties did not provide any services to their citizens. Even as of 2000, only 29 of Tennessee's 95 counties offered collection services. Of the 13.5 million tons of trash that Tennesseans produced in 2008, about 6.5 million tons were disposed of in Class I (sanitary) landfills and seven million tons were recycled. This means that individual Tennesseans are producing about one ton of trash every year. While the numbers are outstanding, managing [Page 901]waste in Tennessee has improved, down from 1.3 tons of waste per person in 1995.

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