you are what you throw away

Because of yesterday’s post by Matt about his thoughts on trash, we thought it appropriate to link to the latest Special Report by The Economist.  This is a series of ten articles all about waste and America and climate change.  Below is an excerpt from the introduction:

 

The waste industry: A load of rubbish

 

Rubbish can cause all sorts of problems. It often stinks, attracts vermin and creates eyesores. More seriously, it can release harmful chemicals into the soil and water when dumped, or into the air when burned. It is the source of almost 4% of the world’s greenhouse gases, mostly in the form of methane from rotting food—and that does not include all the methane generated by animal slurry and other farm waste. And then there are some really nasty forms of industrial waste, such as spent nuclear fuel, for which no universally accepted disposal methods have thus far been developed.

Some of the articles include “you are what you throw away”, “the value of recycling”, and “down in the dumps”.  As someone who recently started composting and getting a major lesson on the amount of trash I create… this is an invaluable discussion.  Take the time to pick up the issue or go online (even better… NO WASTE!)

 

food waste

I found two interesting articles on wasting food. I felt it was appropriate to highlight since this is the time of year where we go to a lot of parties, bring a lot of pot luck dishes, have family over for celebrations, resulting in a lot of food and a lot of waste.

From the Washington Post: Costs of Food Waste Pile Up
Food waste has been a chronic problem for restaurants and grocery stores — with millions of tons lost along the way as crops are hauled hundreds of miles, stored for weeks in refrigerators and prepared on hectic restaurant assembly lines. But the historically high price of commodities is making it an even bigger drag on the bottom line.

Restaurants, colleges, hospitals and other institutions are compensating for the rising costs of waste in novel ways. Some are tracking their trash with software systems, making food in smaller batches or trying to compost and cut down on trash-hauling costs.

From Culinate.com, The Food Not Eaten
As a symbol of American abundance, Thanksgiving hints at just how much food there is to squander. And squander we do, from farm to fork. More than 40 percent of all food produced in America is not eaten, according to research by former University of Arizona anthropologist Timothy Jones. That amounts to more than 29 million tons of food waste each year, or enough to fill the Rose Bowl every three days. Nationwide, food scraps make up 17 percent of what we send to landfills.

The author of this article also has his own website, which I am finding very interesting, http://www.wastedfood.com/.

So, enjoy your leftovers and please think twice before you throw something away.

less junk

I have belonged to Green Dimes for a couple years. It is an organization that helps eliminate junk mail for you and I am continuously amazed at the reduction.

There is new news today that I may not need them much longer. Many apologies. But, it seems that credit card companies are going to be reducing their junk mail on their own. The economy has weakened just enough that it is not cost effective to produce that amount of material for the low return on investment. On top of that, catalog companies have reduced their mailings because of a rate increase by the Post Office.

All in all… less junk in your mailbox means less trees being killed for paper and less crap in our land fills. Hate to quote Martha Stewart, but…. It’s a good thing!

HERE is the article.