Your trash
March 9th, 2007 by Mollie
photo courtesy of dM.nyc
The day of the Academy Awards I was on day three of being really sick. I am telling you this because I am about to admit that I watched the Academy Awards and I am a bit embarrassed to share this information….but I really was very sick so please don’t judge me too harshly. Anyways, during the award show Jerry Seinfeld did a little stand-up schtick (I think it was his consolation prize for not being picked to host the Oscars) about our attitude towards trash when we go to see a movie in the theater. The gist of it was that an unspoken deal has been made between the patrons and the establishment. The patron agrees to pay a ridiculously high price for an admission ticket, food, and beverage and in return the patron has earned the right to drop his/her trash wherever he/she desires and gets to not have to give one thought to who is going to clean it up, but can walk away with the peace of mind that someone is in place to take care of it. Unfortunately, this attitude has moved beyond the theater and we have come to possess this carelessly care-free attitude toward trash in general. We pay our fees and in return our only duty is to put our trash/recycling in their respective containers, place them on the curb, and someone will dispose of them. We feel that we have earned the right to not have to think of where that trash goes, what happens to it when it gets there, or how it effects our planet. However, that is not the way it works and our trash doesn’t just disappear.
I want to issue a challenge to your awareness regarding your trash. Each one of us leaves an imprint on this Earth and one of the very tangible ways that we can exam the size of that imprint is in the amount of trash we individually accumulate. This weekend I want you to track everything that you throw away (if you have kids their trash is your responsibility). It doesn’t matter if you mentally keep track or if you actually write it down. The goal is for you to become more mindful of the trash you accumulate and the imprint you are leaving.
Throwing things away has become second nature and in many ways a thoughtless action. Here is a list that will hopefully trigger your awareness this weekend:
Facial tissues
Paper towels
Tin foil
Plastic wrap
Grocery bags
Various beverage containers (juice, milk, soda, etc.)
The trash bag itself
Plastic storage bags
Paper
Disposable cups and lids
Tea bags
Food scraps from fruits, veggies, and cooking
Napkins
Straws
Toothpicks
Twisty ties
Diapers
Diaper wipes
Various food wrappers (granola bars, bread, butter, jam jars, etc.)
Personal hygiene containers (toothpaste, soap, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, lotion, etc.)
That should be enough to get your brain moving in the right direction.
Here are a few things to think about while you are increasing your awareness:
1) How many wrappers does this one item have? (Ex: Bars of soap usually have a plastic wrapping that holds all the individually wrapped bars together or loafs of bread many times have a plastic wrapping and a plastic bag.)
2) Recycling paper, glass, and plastic is better than throwing them in the garbage, but it is still trash. Keep track of your recycling too.
3) Notice even the little things you throw away (like the plastic band you peal away from your milk container when opening it).
Hopefully in this process of becoming more mindful, you will begin to think about and examine the impact that this has. I have been working on this for a couple of months and on Monday I will let you know the things I have been thinking about as a result.