I was thinking of all the stresses that have come in the last 18 months, one of the ones I didn’t expect was how regretful I am that the pandemic appears to have increased our wasteful output.
I remember when I was in junior high school[1], I was very service oriented. I don’t remember why, but I do remember Waste Management was coming to town to take over trash functions. This was the early 80s, and people wanted to send their trash from the east coast to Indiana so they didn’t have to worry about trash in their back yard.
The way I remember it, Waste Management was going to take over all the trash functions. We were going to get recycling[2]. It was all going to be great. However, to get these benefits, we would have to tightly control the amount of trash being produced in Lafayette that was headed to the landfill. The issue, really, is that we as individuals needed to produce less trash and then we would have plenty of space to take the trash from New Jersey.
I remember looking at our trash cans around the house where I grew up and thinking how we should use less. Fewer paper towels would be a good start. Maybe we could reuse coffee filters? Maybe.
I developed a fear, almost a phobia, that I, and my family, were producing too much waste. We were destroying the planet just by living a nice middle-class life. Every napkin, every tissue, every wasted crust of bread felt like it was the straw that would break the camel’s back.
These thoughts came back to me at the beginning of April 2020. I looked around at the used paper masks (if you could get one) lining the paths where we walked. I watched news reports about the need for Personal Protection Equipment for hospital workers because they could only use each gown once[3]. Not only could we not make the disposable equipment needed fast enough, no one was talking about what would happen when we used this much disposable equipment.
I was shocked.
Thinking about it recently, I now understand the marketing that was being done to get the good people of small city Indiana to embrace a private trash collection company and still let them import trash from the east. My adult brain embraces this and understands it was much more complicated than was presented at those meetings.[4]
In a strange twist, about the same time, they stopped having returnable soda bottles to the grocery store. Do you remember those? You put a deposit down, took the bottles back, and they reused the bottles in creating soda for sale. Amazing. Low waste.
It stopped.[5]
I still recycle, and I admit I wish-cycle[6] way too often. I don’t trust mixed recycling curbside, so I take all paper to the transfer station which is right by Costco[7]. I try to limit trash and I feel horribly guilty throwing away anything made of cloth or electronics[8].
I admit I am missing information.
My memories of those Waste Management presentations when I was still interested in seeking a career in public service scared me and scarred me. I do what I can with what I know, and I seek information when I don’t find it to be too much to handle.
Waste is scary especially when we are talking trash.
[1] That is what they called 7th-9th grade in my home town.
[2] Remember when you had to clean everything thoroughly, remove the rings from the top of plastic bottles, remove the paper from metal cans, and sort your recycling?
[3] The waste in medical settings has always made me a little uncomfortable, even tho I understand the need to prevent infections spreading.
[4] I honestly cannot remember which of the leadership programs I was signed up for led me to attend these meetings. And truthfully, it could be that several incidents have blurred together in my mind.
[5] I am sure there was some downside to it that related to cheap plastic and expensive labor costs to keep it.
[6] Putting something in recycling hoping it is recyclable even though you know it probably isn’t. I try not to do it if it contaminates the recycling bin like with plastic bags at the grocery store.
[7] It isn’t like I am not at Costco every five days or so anyway.
[8] Yes, I try to recycle electronics and cloth, but it is hard to know if that actually works.
It is hard to find a balance between just enjoying life and not just standing by as the planet gets buried in trash. What’s normal consumption behavior in our society isn’t good for the environment. But also important to realize that you as an individual going to enormous extremes recycling won’t make any significant dent globally and is unlikely to change many people’s habits, so if it causes you excessive trouble, probably not worth it. I guess what I am saying is yes, you should keep reducing/ reusing/ recycling, but not cause yourself excess discomfort while doing it. You do a lot, but you don’t have to do it all.