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Waste! Nobody wants it. Everybody creates it. Piles of used tires catch fire and burn for months. Barges and ships laden with waste shuffle from port to port because nobody wants to accept them. Nobody but film producers who think they make great subjects for science-fiction films . . . and documentary films. And the landfills fill and still the cities fight for still more land to fill . . . with waste!
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POPULATION & WASTE
According to Californians Against Waste, “Recycling has come almost full-circle in the last 60 years. In 1942 everyone in America reduced wasteful consumption, reused all sorts of items, and saved their "scrap" for the war effort. Whether it was metal for planes, rubber for tires, or even leftover cooking fat for lubricants--Americans reduced, reused, and recycled it all!
“Just 10 years after the war these efforts were forgotten and Americans relearned how to waste. For nearly four decades we threw it all away, becoming the ‘Disposable Society.’”
“Then starting in the late 1970's and continuing right up to today, Americans realize we are choking on our own waste and depriving future generations of the resources they will need.”
And yet . . . even as government, industry, and the public move toward a “Recycling Society,” population growth is overwhelming that progress and overwhelming our capacity to handle our waste.
For example, in 1991, California dumps accepted approximately 75 million pounds of trash. Yet ten years later, despite the fact that recycling, diverting, and composting had increased significantly, trash delivered to dumps increased! Dramatic early drops in annual landfill tonnage were overtaken by millions of new residents.
While there may always be more we can do to reduce per capita waste, so long as we have a rampant increase in the number of “capitas” (people), waste will continue to increase and to become an increasing problem.
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©2006 Edward C. Hartman. All Rights Reserved
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