Trash & (Zero) Waste in a Disposable World: Trash Analysis

	Trash Log
Recyclable	One-time Use	Compostable
8 Aluminum Cans	1 Cup of Noodles Cup	21 Napkins
10 Paper Towels	3 Computer Plastic Packaging	0 Food Waste
1 Toothpaste Box	1 Gum Holder
1 Neosporin Box	1 Gum Wrapping
1 Carmex Box	3 Bags of Chips
1 Computer Mouse Box	2 Cliff Bar Wrapping
1 Cup of Noodles	7 Cotton Swabs
5 School Papers
2 Paper Bags
3 Plastic Bottles

The current ecological direction our country is taking must be reversed if we are to remain a prosperous country; in order to accomplish this our citizens must be educated more about the effects of consumerism and the harm that waste has on our planet. For the majority of my life I was sucked into the consumerism lifestyle and had no problem throwing away my old, out-dated possessions even if they could have easily been fixed. When I threw something “away” I never thought where my trash was traveling or how long it was going to take to decompose. My philosophy towards the Earth changed immensely in only 3 months. My junior year I spent a semester at The Island School in the Bahamas learning how to be “eco-literate.” By David Orrs definition in “Earth in Mind,” eco-literacy “is the capacity to understand the ecological context in which humans live, to recognize limits, and to get the scale of things right. (Orr, p. 2)” I was taught about the different means of trash disposal, how efficient different kinds of recycling are, and how important it is to be aware of the impact each individual has on the Earth. I know that people must limit their consumption in order for a healthy planet, but I am afraid that most people have not learned about this concept of eco-literacy. It is easy for people to ignore their wasteful lifestyle because our waste system allows for it. When someone throws away anything, once it is in the trash bin they never have to think about it again because they will neither have to come across it nor be held accountable for recycling improperly. Although I believe that I am a conscious consumer, I know that there is always room for more improvement in my life and I know that change is necessary in the paradigm of the country as a whole.

As I have been collecting my own trash and analyzing what waste is to me, I also began to notice what others were throwing out and was shocked to see how little others thought about their waste. At the beginning of the week I placed a trash bin under my desk and left the other trash bin and a recycling bin for my roommate. As the week progressed I noticed that there was no distinction between my roommate’s recycling and trash bin, they were both trash bins (Fig. 1). I don’t think that he mixed his trash because he didn’t care, I think it is simply because he doesn’t know better. I find it hard to believe that somebody won’t take the time to recycle in Colorado because of the single stream system in place, but my roommate just didn’t see the need to sort his waste. It’s because of the common naivety in the country that we have such a wasteful and consumer based economy and way of life. If people were taught how to be eco-literate in grammar school, our country would be accustomed to disposing waste properly and would be more conscious of how many resources they use.

Fig 1 My Trash

Roommate Trash

After graduating The Island School, I made it my goal to reduce the amount of food waste I produced and have easily been able to do this. Now that I am back at school I see the immense amount of food that is wasted daily. When I ask people if they care that they are wasting their food they respond, “But I’m composting it, it’s fine.” This thought is false because people don’t take into account the amount of resources and energy that was put into that food in order for it to be on his/her plate. Throwing it back into the compost is certainly better than throwing it away, but the transportation of food alone is a reason not to take more food than necessary. If our country’s philosophy towards this issue is going to change, we must educate the children of the country of these issues and make them more eco-literate.

As industries have grown over the past century almost all Americans have been sucked into the consumer lifestyle. Large companies that influence us to buy more stuff more often and throw away stuff that has become obsolete have controlled our countries paradigm. We mindlessly throw away things in the garbage and never have to think about them again because it is out of our sight. Industries actually design products that will break or become useless after a certain amount of time but make them last long enough that people will return to buy more (Leonard, Story of Stuff, http://www.storyofstuff.org). Companies also create massive amounts of trash because of the convenience of their product, such as disposable razors and cameras. Because these companies have gained more control over the countries way of life, the amount of garbage the country is producing has increased as well. Because of this direct variation, “Garbage has become one of the most accurate measures of prosperity in the twenty-first century America and the world.” (Humes, p. 6) This way of measuring prosperity is backwards and we must take steps to change this. Although it is easy to blame big corporations for this trash, they cannot have all the blame put on them because they will continue to use these lucrative methods until people become smarter and refuse their wasteful means of production. For example I bought a new computer this week and was amazed when I open the box that each cord and small piece was wrapped separately in plastic for no reason but for the consumers to think that their computer was cleaner or newer. People must demand change in the products they are buying or else change will never happen.

Americans must take back control of the country’s economy by buying smarter. If people began to buy less often, companies would design products to appeal to these people so they would make products that would last longer. People must refuse to by products, like my computers, that are sealed in excess plastic that only has a one time use. If people refused to use Styrofoam or plastic food bags companies would begin to research new means of packaging food that were reusable or at least recyclable. Many people feel helpless in issues as big as trash and think that they make no difference. This idea is false; in a capitalistic market industries strive to appease people and will change as the American paradigm changes. As Orr states, “it is widely assumed that environmental problems will be solved by technology of one sort or another. (Orr,p.2)” People must take responsibility for the trash that they create by speaking out, informing others of the destruction trash creates and reducing the waste they create, not waiting for someone else to fix the problem for them.

The current trash system in America must change soon, because it will be easier to correct the problems now rather than fifty years down the road because it will only get harder to reverse the destruction we have caused. Few people consider trash to be a National issue, but in reality it is a global issue. We cannot assume that modern technology will somehow reverse the damage that has been done, everybody needs to change his or her ways and slowly the Earth will become a healthier place. People hear the massive numbers relating to trash and cannot understand them because they are too big. As Humes has found, “In a year, Americans throw out a collective 389.5 million tons of rubbish.”(Humes, p. 4) This number is just too big for us to wrap our heads around because we have nothing to compare it to. But through the works of people like Chris Jordan who uses photography to express the amount of waste we produce, people are beginning to see how much of a problem our waste is becoming. The government should create benefits for people who recycle properly or fine those who don’t. Some incentive must be created for people who are conscious citizens. A tipping point is a term used to describe the amount an ecosystem our community can handle of a certain amount living species or pollutant before collapsing. They only way to find the tipping is to exceed it and then return back to a normal state. Personally I would not like to know the tipping point of our country involving trash, so I would like to create change in the country now before it becomes a necessity.