would you still use extra special bags to throw things (like other bags) away in (barring worcester where they require that)?
I know Upton, as well as a few other places require this -- and it seems somewhat silly to me. I can understand double-bagging your trash if the initial bag's falling apart or whatever, but having to throw another bag that could just as easily be a $1 sticker instead makes me sad.
i think the idea is that peolpe consider how much they have to pay for each and every garbage bag so they will consider what they throw away. but it just ends up making people stuff their garbage bags as full as possible.
"If you had to bury your trash in your own backyard..."
That's a really insightful way of putting it. It invokes a telling thought experiment that would probably embarass most people who carry it through honestly.
I won't say I live a squeaky-clean life, but I will say that I don't own a single paper towel. I have a nice stack of clean, fresh kitchen towels.
This thought experiment provides a nice sense of our individual footprint with respect to trash, but I'd be interested in seeing one that gives a personal sense to the impact of water usage.
Hmm, well, a similar concept could apply, i.e. storing your water in a retention pond in your back yard. That doesn't take into account wastewater treatment and such, but I think people would get the idea real quick when they started to think about the rotting, scummy, chemical-laden mess they'd produce in less than a month of doing that.
and calculate your ecological footprint. It doesn't address the waste you speak of, but it lets you know in general terms how sustainable your lifestyle is.
As for the general daily waste produced, I have only one thing to say... Trash day is depressing. -M
Peronally, I think places should charge *extra* for their containers. Considerably more. People associate little-cost with little-value, and thus think that they can just throw away something they got for free. Also, i think places should be responsible for at least providing a recycling option for their own "trash" ...
Another comment that hits the nail on the head. I think I wrote an entire entry about pretty much that exact thing awhile back. With our highly efficient economy that's able to produce things very cheaply, it's naturally led to a lot of things that are "disposable" when they really ought not be, because people pay so little that they devalue them. I think this is one of the biggest (and sneakiest) underlying problems in our society right now.
Example: I once caught myself before I reflexively threw out a gallon-sized ziplock bag and realized how utterly valuable such an item might be to someone who doesn't live in a society of waste like ours, and how ridiculous the concept of throwing something like that before it's destroyed must seem. Turns out you can wash them and reuse them. I wonder why they don't say that on the box...?
I have many ziplock bags, plastic containers, rolls of tin-foil. I have never ever ever bought a single one of these things. People leave them at my house (probably assuming i will throw them away) and people nearly throw them away other places and i save them. Im crazy. ;)
But I do some of these bad bad things...
anonymous
April 7 2007, 16:36:25 UTC
Yet my wife and I rarely have more than a single bag of your standard grocery style size every two weeks. How can we use paper towels, plastic wrap, plastic bags, and whatever assortment of other "disposable" items and still be contributing far less to the waste of the world? Could it be that we only use these items when they are true conveniences rather than out of habit? Maybe we do an extremely good job of sorting recyclable materials? Maybe we reuse many of these items before finding them past their usefulness?
It seems to me many environmentally minded initiatives go too far towards the opposite extreme. To have an influence on the way people behave one must not only make a case of benefit to the environment but also a direct case for the benefit of the people. Show people how making small everyday decisions that benefit the environment also benifit them, now, today. Getting people to abandon paper towel use altogether is unrealistic. Make a case for people to use less of them and you might be able to start a change.
Re: But I do some of these bad bad things...imetsApril 9 2007, 15:14:50 UTC
Well, ok. I dont know you, but Im willing to debate on this. Plastics were a recently invented material. With the invention of this really cheap material came the idea that things are disposable, and non-valuable, so buy as much as you can/want, use it whenever you want, and then throw it away because why bother saving it? it's not worth your time
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Comments 32
I know Upton, as well as a few other places require this -- and it seems somewhat silly to me. I can understand double-bagging your trash if the initial bag's falling apart or whatever, but having to throw another bag that could just as easily be a $1 sticker instead makes me sad.
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That's a really insightful way of putting it. It invokes a telling thought experiment that would probably embarass most people who carry it through honestly.
I won't say I live a squeaky-clean life, but I will say that I don't own a single paper towel. I have a nice stack of clean, fresh kitchen towels.
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http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp
and calculate your ecological footprint. It doesn't address the waste you speak of, but it lets you know in general terms how sustainable your lifestyle is.
As for the general daily waste produced, I have only one thing to say... Trash day is depressing.
-M
Reply
Reply
Peronally, I think places should charge *extra* for their containers. Considerably more. People associate little-cost with little-value, and thus think that they can just throw away something they got for free.
Also, i think places should be responsible for at least providing a recycling option for their own "trash" ...
Reply
Another comment that hits the nail on the head. I think I wrote an entire entry about pretty much that exact thing awhile back. With our highly efficient economy that's able to produce things very cheaply, it's naturally led to a lot of things that are "disposable" when they really ought not be, because people pay so little that they devalue them. I think this is one of the biggest (and sneakiest) underlying problems in our society right now.
Example: I once caught myself before I reflexively threw out a gallon-sized ziplock bag and realized how utterly valuable such an item might be to someone who doesn't live in a society of waste like ours, and how ridiculous the concept of throwing something like that before it's destroyed must seem. Turns out you can wash them and reuse them. I wonder why they don't say that on the box...?
Reply
Reply
It seems to me many environmentally minded initiatives go too far towards the opposite extreme. To have an influence on the way people behave one must not only make a case of benefit to the environment but also a direct case for the benefit of the people. Show people how making small everyday decisions that benefit the environment also benifit them, now, today. Getting people to abandon paper towel use altogether is unrealistic. Make a case for people to use less of them and you might be able to start a change.
Reply
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