Have you ever wondered where your trash goes once your “stuff” is picked up or when you leave it at the transfer station? Perhaps not. It just “goes away” – not your problem anymore!
This past spring, I visited the Burk Museum of the University of Washington. One of the feature displays in Our Material World Gallery shows the trash accumulation of our local “western” society. It is in marked contrast to the story of the Native Americans whose footprints are often hard to detect. “Our” culture is depicted as a vertical transect of what used to be called a “garbage dump” but is now referred to as a “sanitary land fill.” Our ecological footprint is written on the landscape. Is it any wonder that geologists are now referring to the current time period as the “Anthropocene.” It marks the first time in earth’s history that a single species has written its epitaph across Earth’s surface as the signature on their global tombstone.
In the last Creation’s Corner, I suggested that you might want to calculate the size of your ecological footprint. I have been working on mine. I am ashamed of the tracks that I have left as I strive to live more responsibly in God’s Kingdom today. In my research, I have found that the “stuff” I leave at the transfer station – those items I am not able to recycle – go to a landfill somewhere near Republic, Washington called “Republic Services Roosevelt Landfill.” My recycled items are processed and marketed by DTG Recycle. But where will my “stuff” go once the site near Republic has reached capacity? Seattle, on the other hand, loads its “stuff” onto a train that deposits it at the Columbia Ridge landfill located 320 miles away in northern Oregon!
I have found it informative to visit the local transfer station in Coupeville to look at the “stuff” that others are throwing away. Many do not take time to separate the recyclables. Cardboard, wood products, metals and organic wastes that could have been composted make up much of the waste stream. The United States recycles approximately 32% of its trash in contrast to more than 60% in several other countries. But the real question is not what others are doing, but how am I doing and what are my options? FYI, nearly all toxic chemicals including oil, gas, paint, insecticides, cleaning supplies, etc. can be taken at no charge to the local transfer station just south of Coupeville. I have two large compost piles for non-meat organic waste that is the depository for the bulk of my yard and kitchen waste. Metals, aluminum, paper, plastics #1 & 2, and cardboard go to recycling at the transfer station. My other plastics that bear recycling #s not accepted by the local recycling center go into a trash bag and are taken eventually to our daughter’s place in Burien where most plastics capable of recycling are received. But where can I go from here? Is it possible to move toward zero waste for myself and society? “Cradle to Grave” used to be the mantra for our stuff – assuming that there was a “grave” for its deposit. Today we talk about “Cradle to Cradle” where our “waste stuff” becomes the source of material for creating tomorrow’s “new stuff” with nothing needing to go “away.”
Can our society move toward a zero-waste stream? When you look at the stuff in your garbage, what are your options? What can you and I do differently? I suggest that you do an internet search for “How to achieve a zero-waste society.” Much is being done, but we have a long way to go. Our lives as Christ followers should be lived in such a way as to maximize our spiritual footprints and minimize our physical footprints. In the words of Chief Seattle, “Take only memories, leave only footprints” – and may those physical footprints be small ones!
Thanks for listening.
— Joe Sheldon
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