I remember going to the Philippines about two years ago and being appalled at the dire situation a community I visited lives in. This community is settled in a place called “Trash Mountain” and yes, people literally build their homes in a mountain made of trash. This community lives in the landfill of the city. Their main source of income is to find wood within the trash and burn it to make coal, which they can then sell.
The community I visited is only one in many communities throughout the world that live in a landfill or landfill-like situation. Well, how does that affect us here in suburban Ohio you might ask. It affects us inasmuch as we are part of the huge waste culture present not only in the US, but all throughout the world. So let’s look at a few numbers. According to the United Nations, the whole world produces 2.12 billion tons of waste a year. Not surprising if we consider the fact that 99 percent of the stuff we buy is trashed within 6 months. The U.S. alone produces more waste than any other country in the world, generating 4.4 pounds of waste per person per day.
One must only look at our eating habits to see where all this trash comes from. An estimated 25 - 40 % of food grown, processed, and transported in the US will never be consumed. In the Main Dining Hall here at Capital University, a good number of people throw away half or more of the food they get. If they get their food to go, then they will also throw away the box and the cup they use to take their food, both made of non-biodegradable materials. If you eat at One Main Cafe, then you will also create a lot of waste coming from straws, paper trays, paper cups, spoons, forks, etc.
But food is not the only problem. The U.S. is also the biggest consumer of paper in the world, consuming an average of 700 pounds of paper per capita annually. The United States has less than 5% of the world's population yet consumes more than 30% of the world’s paper. It takes approximately 68 million trees per year to produce all this paper. With $50 per semester, here at Capital it’s easy for students to print, and print, and then print some more. I’m also sure that in all the offices throughout campus the use of paper is much higher.
These are only two examples that bring to light the big problem that waste production is in the world in general and in the U.S. in particular. There are many repercussions coming out of this issue, from social justice, to environmental conservation, to health issues.
So, what do we do to change this? Simple things can make a huge difference if everybody does them. Don’t waste food! That’s by far the simplest thing you can do to be less wasteful. Get as much as you want but eat what you get. Try to recycle as many things as possible. Don’t throw away things that are still good and functional just to get new things. Think twice before printing that 300-page book for your class. To go the extra mile would be to see if dining services would be willing to allow students to bring their own recipients to get food to go, or switch to reusable eating utensils in One Main, instead of the disposable ones they current operate on. Furthermore, nowadays there are many initiatives out there that are fighting this problem. Just look at Dickinson College Campus Farm, the Paperless Project, ReFED, and many many more.
There are so many ways in which we can reduce our waste production, but ultimately it depends on us to make an effort to change our habits and mentality. But if we do it we would be doing a service to ourselves, to our communities, and to the whole world.
Sources and further reading:
- http://www.theworldcounts.com/counters/shocking_environmental_facts_and_statistics/world_waste_facts
- http://www.feedingamerica.org/about-us/how-we-work/securing-meals/reducing-food-waste.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
- http://www.thepaperlessproject.com/facts-about-paper-the-impact-of-consumption/
- http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/in-worlds-poorest-slums-landfills-and-polluted-rivers-become-a-childs-playground/
