Trash & (Zero) Waste in a Disposable World: One Week Trash Log

If my trash log has taught me anything it would be how consistent and constant my trash production is. It proved to me how I have been trained to throw things away and think nothing of it. If I didn't have my notebook at hand to immediately record what I had thrown away, I would easily forget. Our minds are so accustomed to getting rid of things that it is has almost become as natural as breathing. Robin Nagle said in an interview, “Every single thing you see is future trash. Everything. So we are surrounded by ephemera, but we can’t acknowledge that, because it’s kind of scary, because I think ultimately it points to our own temporariness, to thoughts that we’re all going to die.” I felt that this quote not only related to my own trash production, but also relates to every single person’s trash production. As I read this quote for the first time I paused and looked around my dorm room. Everything I saw would someday be discarded and most likely end up in a landfill. My TV, my mattress, my dresser, my clothes, even my skis would someday be trashed. I began thinking about the last part of the quote and thought, “Am even I trash?” Someday, just like all the things in my room, I too will be buried underground along with every other human on Earth. Although we might feel as though our years alive are long, in the grand scheme of things we are in fact ephemeron as well. The things in my trash log don’t come close to showing the amount of things that I will discard in my lifetime, but it does give me a sense of where I can improve on my environmental impact. Just simply knowing and understanding the amount of trash one creates is half the battle.

If someone were to dig through my trash from this week they would probably think that I am grossly overweight because they would find a fair amount of junk food. Not only did my trash log teach me about my trash production, but I also learned about my diet as well. They would also know that I am a college student because of the endless amount of paper I received from DU during orientation week that finally made it off of my desk. Throughout this week I realized two things: I waste a lot of food and I don’t recycle as much as I thought. I kept tabs on what I composted and a lot of times there was still plenty of extra food on my plate. I would grab much more food than I could ever eat while walking down the aisles of all you can eat food. In other words, my eyes are bigger than my stomach. As my trash log would show, by the end of the week I began to catch on and started putting reasonable amounts of food on my plate that I could actually finish. Recycling has always been something that I was proud to say that I frequently did, but as my trash log would show I didn’t always recycle things that I could

have. I realized that I only recycled when it was convenient for me. I was pretty disappointed in myself to be honest. For example, I threw away a Gatorade bottle because it wasn’t handy for me to get it to the recycle bin. I felt good when I recycled but when I didn’t I still thought nothing of it, as if since it was not expected of me I was not at fault for not doing it at all possible opportunities. It hit me that the same convenience that Strasser had talked about was my exact mentality.

Looking back on my trash log, I also found another direct relation to Strasser. I used and threw away plenty of Kleenex and paper towels without even thinking of a reusable alternative. If I just owned a handkerchief or put some hand towels in the kitchen the issue of throwing these things away would be solved and prevent a good amount of my trash production. There are countless amounts of things that I buy, use, throw away, and rebuy every day. This is the exact model of planned obsolescence. Sooner or later I will have to buy more Kleenex and more paper towels because they can only last me so long. From a business standpoint, planned obsolescence is a great idea that could potentially provide a substantial amount of profits, but the environmental impact of this is incredibly detrimental. The economical challenge this creates on a lot of families and college students like me can be detrimental as well. This lifestyle of constantly buying, using quickly, and throwing away is a step in the wrong direction.

The trash log was a real eye opener. What I expected to see and what actually came out were two totally different things. My food habits have already changed in my diet and amount of food I get on my plate and I will definitely be more conscience about recycling things even when it is not the easiest thing to do or most convenient. I replaced my paper towels with reusable towels and have been looking for new ways to reuse products and make them last longer. Just knowing and seeing all the trash I produce written down in one place has made me much more knowledgeable about my environmental impact and how closely my impact relates to the words of Strasser and Nagle. If everyone kept a trash log I think that they would be very surprised at what they would find.