Striving for a low-waste lifestyle
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Striving for a low-waste lifestyle O ur world is overloaded with trash, garbage, and waste. We have major problems with sewage, paper waste, plastic waste, nuclear waste, electronics waste, wasted food, petroleum waste products, runoff of fertilizers and pesticides, and a host of other waste types and materials. As materials researchers, we are complicit in this problem in at least two ways. First, we, too, are consumers. Some of us always upgrade to the latest cell phone, laptop computer, tablet, television set, sound system, or automobile along with many other usual consumer products. Some of you are probably objecting to my screed at this point, thinking that you recycle and reuse what you can, compost materials when possible, carry reusable tote bags instead of either plastic or paper bags from the stores you frequent, and take other steps to maintain a small ecological footprint. I used to think of myself that way. I knew that I wasn’t as environmentally conscious as I needed to be, but I thought that I was exceeding community norms. Then I saw an article about Lauren Singer, who has a goal to produce zero garbage. Her entire collection of waste from four years fits inside one Mason jar.1 She is extremely careful about what she buys. She recycles, reuses materials, and composts. And what is left fits within a single 16-ounce jar. Four years of it! I have no clue how she manages this, nor how I could duplicate that result. Second, for many of us, our research on materials has enabled the development of new products in these same areas of the consumer market or the rapid integration of new materials into products. Some of you may also object to this if you are helping to develop materials that are less toxic, are more biodegradable, or work in some other way to reduce our impact on the environment. However, most of us don’t have the habits of Lauren Singer, and don’t work on materials that reduce our impact on the environment. On average, Americans generate 4.4 pounds of trash daily per person, equivalent to 254 million tons of trash per year.2 This includes 22 billion plastic bottles. In 2012, the amount of trash generated worldwide was 1.3 billion tons.3 Obviously, the amount of trash generated in the United States is significantly higher than what is generated by other nations, but think of the total waste. One of my brothers used to refer to me as the incredible bulk. I’ve weighed about 250 pounds for many years, although more of it was muscle many years ago. The amount of trash generated worldwide each year is more than the weight of 10 billion people of my size.
I recently moved from Hermosa Beach, Calif., to Fayetteville, Ark. In addition to furniture, I had almost 300 boxes of household goods shipped including clothes, dishes, pots and pans, electronics, and books. Lots of books! Most of my belongings were packed in cardboard boxes surrounded by packing paper. Lots of packing paper! Now in Arkansas, as I begin to unpack, I’m having to deal with the solid waste issue. The city allows me two small bins for
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