"Fire!" Isn’t this one of the most dreaded expressions? Every year, the United States sees an average of over 8000 fires, and they cause a few injuries too, by way of smoke inhalation. The fires begin due to the gases produced by landfills, especially methane. Once enough has built up, all it takes is a little heat to ignite a dangerous fire. In fact, in 2021, a landfill fire in North Carolina continued to burn for a few months with no way to put it out. What makes them so hard to extinguish? Simple—all the e-waste and plastics that we dump in the landfills! They release large amounts of toxic smoke that make it hard to get close enough to put out the fire, besides the sheer size of the fires. Biodegradable materials like areca palm leaves would ensure we don’t have to dump anything in landfills. When will you make the shift?