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My trash and your trash in our world
September 12, 2007

This weekend I heard an impressive and depressive interview with Alan Weisman, the author of “The World Without Us. The interview for the most part focused on the trash we humans generated, especially the non-degradable plastic kind, the kind that would dot the earth’s landscape even 500,000 years from now.

It forced me to examine my own daily life. Other than the organic matters that we compost, in my household, 80% of the trash is in some form of plastic. I can’t help but wondering what we are doing to ourselves. A hundred years ago, we did not have a sound garbage disposal system, so people pretty much tossed their trash outside their houses. It was terrible, the stanch, the critters that lived on the trash piles, and the horrifying diseases they passed on to humans. A hundred years later, we have a fairly developed garbage collection system. Every week, garbage trucks come and take away our neatly packed bags. Poof! Our trash disappears. How wonderful! We are able to maintain clean and beautiful homes and gardens. A step forward in human history?

Not so fast. Are we simply pushing our garbage out of sight? Judging by the amount of trash our oceans have been receiving, it certainly is true. “By 2005, the gyrating Pacific dump was 10 million square miles — nearly the size of Africa. It wasn’t the only one: the planet has six other major tropical oceanic gyres, all of them swirling with ugly debris.” The most disastrous part: About 60-80% of the trash is non-biodegradable plastic. There are so many long-term negative impacts on humans as well as the entire earth eco-system.

Personally I think this is much worse than 100 years ago when trash could ultimately be recycled back into the earth. Why do we still allow plastic bags to be handed out in the stores? Why do we still buy $2 plastic crap from big box stores? Why do we not push for legislations to encourage responsible plastic production and disposal?

For now, I am still thinking about all these questions. Meanwhile, I am taking a big step to reduce the use of plastic in our household.

Here are a few places you can start reading more about this huge problem and then do something about it:
California Against Waste
Interview with Alan Weisman
Seven Misconceptions about Plastic and Plastic Recycling

CindyW at Organicpicks

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