Towards Zero Waste

An inevitable part of the moving process involves purging yourself of old, broken, unwanted, unusable, unloved items that you have, up till now, clung to for decades. Today's trip to our local dump brought me face to face with this staggeringly huge mountain of trash, piled so high you could barely see the backhoe and its operator, trying to keep things under control. It was humid, dusty, noisy, and the pungent odor of waste hung thick in the air.

Where will all this trash eventually wind up?

The mountain of waste pictured here will be trucked to the Columbia Ridge Landfill, in Arlington, OR. Our trash, nowadays, has to travel farther from your home and kitchen, before it reaches its final resting place, and these longer trips mean more emissions and more greenhouse gases. One ton of garbage traveling 350 miles from Bellingham to Arlington could generate approximately 100+ pounds of carbon dioxide.

From what I've read, we are not running out of landfills but the ones that we have are fewer and farther between. In 1986, there were 7,683 dumps in the United States. By 2009, there were just 1,908 landfills nationwide-a 75 percent decline in 23 years.

Like it or not, we all share the precious few resources of this small, blue planet. I've resolved to step up my efforts to reduce household waste, reuse, and recycle.