Take the Garbage out of Green Living

Green living is all the rage, but how much trash is out there? No, not greenwashing, I'm talking about actual garbage. The United States alone generates enough garbage to fill 63,000 garbage trucks a day according to the Clean Air Council. This Gyre picture created by Chris Jordan "depicts 2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enter the world's oceans every hour," all of the image's plastic was collected from the Pacific Ocean." This piece is part of his "Running the Numbers" series. We as a society often disassociate ourselves from the trash we create because it is removed, out of sight, out of mind. So Jordan's work is a poignant reminder that nothing really disappears. Yet, reducing your trash can significantly reduce your ecological footprint including climate change. So what now?

Although we are all familiar with the recycle sign and the 3 Rs, how often do we actually put them into practice? Reduce is first because it truly is the most effective action in eliminating waste. By simply reducing what you purchase, you can stop the supply chain instantly. Of course it's not just about what you buy, it's about everything that you use including disposable silverware. Colin Beavan pointed out in his book No Impact Man the shocking revelation that the amount of resources and energy that are put into the creation and disposal of one-time use products like plastic forks is staggering relative to the amount of time you spend using the item. So taking green living seriously takes more than refraining from unnecessary purchases.

Our shopping choices can have a major impact on the amount of waste generated though. According to Elizabeth Royte's book Garbage Land, only 2% of garbage is from households, the rest is mainly from industry. She reports that "1 pound of sellable product = 32 pounds of waste." By purchasing products that are not only from ethical sources, but from waste-conscious companies is important. Many companies have started focusing on "lean supply chain management" and other methodologies to be efficient and cash in on the byproducts of their industrial processes.

Eco-labels like Cradle to Cradle can help consumers identify products designed to minimize their environmental impact including their waste stream. So green living isn't only about reducing and thinking through what you buy, it's also about the entire supply chain of the product. This can be relatively hard to track, but eco-labels like Cradle to Cradle, and Forest Stewardship Council can help narrow it down. One final tip is to consider the packaging of a product, as it accounts for up to 1/3 of waste generated.

If you are interested in experimenting with a waste-free or reduced waste lifestyle, check out the green living experiments of Elizabeth Royte and Colin Beavan in their books. Royte weighs and sorts her trash weekly, and Beavan makes a "no trash" rule that leads him and his family toward a variety of unique solutions. Reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink -- it's that easy.

Photo courtesy of Chris Jordan.
Please view his site for an up close view of the trash used to create this image.