EnviroStewardship: Talking Trash

Dad has decided to keep writing his "Environmental Stewardship" column for his church's newsletter, so here's his offering for May.

Some years back, I was in San Francisco when they were starting a program to reach zero waste with Recycle Bins on almost every block. Since then, a number of larger cities and other municipalities have adopted resolutions that called for reaching zero waste by some arbitrary date. The City of Racine has not done so as yet, although they have named a committee to reduce waste.

This is goal-setting by governments, but there is nothing saying that churches and individuals can’t cooperate, and even lead, in these efforts. We have been doing this on education and social services for centuries.

A first step as an individual (environmental steward) might be a comparison of the contents of your trash can and recycle bin. The recycle bin should almost always contain more than the trash bin … at least twice as much since it is emptied only every other week in Racine.

Next is the decision whether you are producing too much trash or not recycling enough. Are there items in the trash that should be recycled? Are you bringing home too much that cannot be recycled and that you don’t need?

For some, the excess trash will consist of excessive packaging. If it is from a fast food chain, possibly changing chains will help. In other cases, it may mean changing your diet to a more healthy, home-cooked, fruit and vegetable one. With others it may be the clam shells from the second meal brought home from the fancy restaurant which always serves much more than you can eat. If so, bring your own washable, reusable bag or tub.

When going grocery shopping, I am assuming that you are bringing reusable tote bags that last for ages and avoid the choice between paper or plastic. Whenever there is the choice, choose food and other products with the least or most recyclable packaging. A friend was recently part of a survey in which they went into grocery stores and photographed everything with excessive plastic packaging. I believe the results were sent to management, but we are still waiting to see the results.

If your trash is mostly facial tissues which obviously can’t be recycled under current conditions, you might consider going back to the old-fashioned handkerchief. The amount of additional water and detergent used will be negligible in the ordinary wash and less trash will be going into the landfill.

A final and possibly facetious suggestion: Don’t set fire to your house! A dear friend and neighbor unfortunately did so a year ago and the repair crews have filled five or six large dumpsters since then. Obviously, that is a great bump in the road to a zero-waste community.