Garbology

I had just suggested that my friend might consider recycling the garbage accumulating in a plastic bag hanging from a drawer knob—plastic plates and utensils from a dinner party for 15 people. She responded with a stare that said, “There she goes again,” so I backed down. Then I saw the latest must-have kitchen gadget on her kitchen counter, a coffee pod mini-brewer that spawned exponentially increasing, avoidable, unnecessary, non-recyclable, non-biodegradable single use coffee pods that accumulate in landfills with all the other garbage.

I was horrified but knew enough not to press the issue. In the ensuing weeks I came across an article about a woman who decided to carry around her garbage for a week in an effort to be more conscious of what she threw away.

I wasn’t in the mood to tote my garbage around all day, let alone a week, but I was willing to carry a pen and piece of paper one sunny Wednesday. I recorded everything I threw away as a consciousness-raising exercise whereby I would become hyper-aware of the garbage I produced and see what I could learn from the experience.

Remember A.J. Weberman? He was the guy who rummaged through Bob Dylan’s garbage in the late ’60s to learn more about his idol. He coined the term “garbology” and proved that you can learn a lot about a person by studying what she tosses out. I have (almost) nothing to hide so here goes:

What I threw away: a banana skin, a tea bag wrapper, a tea bag, the foil thingy from the top of a newly opened soy milk container, approximately six tissues, a little more than a foot of dental floss, one cotton swab, wrapping from an Earth Ball purchased at the Yoga Café, a plastic bag that held a block of freshly made tofu from Nature’s Grace, some plastic wrap, Temari threads (check my website, marcianehemiah.com for details), an ice cream container and various items organic in nature.

Note: I do not have a compost pile because I live in the woods where there is too much shade to nurture a garden. Even so, I console myself knowing that the tree cover keeps our house 10 degrees cooler in the summer and passive solar gain keeps us warm in winter, thereby reducing our energy consumption.

What I recycled: a cereal box, a magazine I never subscribed to (it’s a long, long story), four pieces of junk mail and some office paper, including the paper on which I kept my list.

What I learned: I’ve been working on reducing waste for a couple of years. I use recyclable shopping bags, cloth napkins and a stainless steel water bottle; I reuse as much as possible; and before purchasing anything, I ask myself, “Do I really need this?” My garbage experiment showed that my effort has paid off.

However, the unfortunate reality is that, try as I might, what I don’t throw away today will be trash tomorrow. Garbage is an essential component of our capitalist system. And part of the trick of that system is to place the burden of the garbage problem on individuals and communities rather than on the manufacturing and packaging industry—hence the emphasis on recycling.

I’ll explore those issues in my next column. Meanwhile, dare I ask my friend to join me in a garbage-toting experiment? How could she manage to carry all those used coffee pods?

-Marcia Nehemiah