Amy Granlund

FRINQ-Portland
Dr.Knepler
4/10/15
Trash Tells a Story
So much of what we consume is based on availability. We no longer only have tap
water available to us, but now have the luxury of buying it bottled and in a variety of
packaging. Nearly everything that we purchase comes packaged and a large percentage of
that packaging is not designed for reuse. For the most part we really are a part of a
society that relies on the expression out of sight, out of mind, which contributes to the
issues that we have today with not only trash but with anything that we dont see,
including poverty, animal extinction and food production along with so many other
unseen national and global matters. It is said by Bloom in his article, In United States,
Theres a Lot of Food Being Wasted, that globally a third of all food amounting to about
1.3 billion tons per year is going to waste. With statistics from 2011 through the World
Bank showing that over 2.2 billion people lived on less that $2 a day, we can see how the
food wasted is a significant problem in relation to the number of people needing these
resources (Worldbank.org, Poverty).

Having to collect my own trash for two days may have not been nearly enough
time to see what kind of contribution I personally make to the problems that we have with
waste, but it was enough time to bring awareness, even if only for a brief moment. It is
said that in Portland we as individuals make an average of 7.1 pounds of trash a day
(Humes, Edward Garbology 2012 p. 249) I realized through this experience that waste is
inevitable but that we can make conscious decisions that can cut down our own
consumption and purchasing habits to better alter our waste production. It is hard to see
how just one person could have an affect by consciously choosing to make the changes
necessary to cut down on purchasing things that more negatively contribute to the waste
consumption problem that we have as a city, state, country and world, but I hope that if
enough of us have the opportunities to see for ourselves the impact that we have on the
waste generated, change can happen.

My personal experience in collecting my garbage was that I did notice that

everything that was purchased had a discardable piece to it. Nothing that my girls and I
have in our home can avoid the process of at some point having a disposable piece. Over
the course of the keeping track of our trash, portion of this assignment I noticed that
we purchased plastic baggies for school lunched which would all end up in the trash. The
drinks that I get the girls for their lunches also come in conveniently easy to dispose of
packaging, that does exactly that, gets disposed of easily and without a second thought.
The milk we buy, tuna, cereal, granola bars, Ice cream and even dog food all come
packaged in something and thrown out in the garbage as soon as they are replaced by the
same or similar product that will also end up in the trash or recycling as soon as it is
empty. It seems like convenience has become a priority for civilization and that waste is

the last thing that is thought of in a products design. Why cant we stop drinking bottled
water and all spend that money on filtered water instead? Why cant we buy milk
dispensers at grocery stores as opposed to milk cartons? Someday we might find that in
order to control an issue such as trash that is out of control, we have to subject ourselves
to change that may involve more work and a little less of the convenience that we expect
and enjoy.
In my trash consumption I feel that the level of awareness you have about your
consumption during those few days probably does limit your consumption, but I still feel
that it helps you to gain understanding in how much we consume that we also waste.
Nearly everything we do includes the movement of throwing something away and for me
then taking that trash outside and throwing it into a large dumpster that will get emptied
twice a week. Our apartments have a lot of recycling bins and are usually relatively full,
which I hope means that a lot of people in my building are making efforts to dispose of
their trash in the most eco-friendly way possible. My neighborhood and close community
shops all seem to have recycling options, and the houses put out multiple bins every week
on the curb for removal. I think that overall my community, although they dont really
have to think about trash consumption much past their garbage bins, do at least try to
make an effort to recycle what they can in hopes to cut back on their overall landfill
waste. I have a friend that lives across town in an apartment that doesnt even have
recycling options. They have a huge trash compactor at the back of their large complex
and that is it. I couldnt actually believe it when I saw that recycling wasnt an option and
wondered if anyone in this huge apartment building held onto their recycling and
disposed of it elsewhere. I think that convenience and availability are necessary for

recycling to be done and that seeing the different bins and options for waste removal does
bring awareness to everyone throwing things away. Without the option people feel forced
to throw everything away or just find it easier to do so.
We live in a city that I believe tends to value what we have aesthetically. The
greenery and closeness to nature is a helpful tool in our desire to recycle and reuse, as
well as our cities design and neighborhoods that bring us a sense of ownership and
community. According to the idea of the 20-minute neighborhood, the benefits of having
areas that are walkable are the building of tangible sense of community, improved public
health and improved access to residents daily needs amongst other things (The rise of the
20-minute neighborhood). I think that in making areas more walkable we are helping
people to spend more time noticing things that otherwise go unnoticed, similar to our
experiences as a class of collecting garbage for a few days and being forced to be more
aware of a function that we do effortlessly and without thought on most occasions. As a
country that likes to innovate and consume, we also waste in just as big of a way. As a
country our food waste has increased dramatically with a 50 percent rise between 1974
and 2003 (Bloom, 2012). Not even recycling is all that we can do to cut back on the
unbelievable amount of garbage that we produce. We need to start with production and
create guidelines that force companies to distribute their products in packaging that is
either completely recyclable or stop using packaging for things that dont really need it. It
will probably take a long time before we get to a point where we really see this being of
great enough importance to set demands for how we sell products, but I hope that it
happens for the sake of further generations and our own.

This project did help me to see what habits that I have had in purchasing,
consumption and disposing of waste. I am looking for better ways to cut back on my use
starting with making coffee at home and using a reusable coffee cup and having my girls
take reusable containers and water bottles to school with their lunches. It might not be as
easy for all of us but I think that the reward is the personal understanding that we are
cutting back on waste and probably saving quite a bit of money in the process as well.
Production, consumption and garbage all run hand in hand and it is our job to
open our eyes and stop choosing to be blind to where our own choices lead us. The
landfill is the conclusion of all of our stories and tells the story of every part of our day.
For me school, paper, ink, pens, school snacks, my two daughters, pets, our eating
preferences, love of Snuggles dryer sheets and tissue from allergies all tell a story of what
we hold as valuable in our family, but also what we dispose of within the gaining of
pleasure or necessity. Garbage is a huge issue that we all need to pay attention to, but that
I sadly feel wont be of importance to most people until its too big of an issue to handle.

Citations
Bloom, Jonathon In United States, Theres a Lot of Food Being
Wasted. Washington
Post. The Washington Post, 20 June 2012. Web. 5 Apr. 2015.
Humes, Edward. Garbology: Our Diry Love Affair with Trash. New York:
Avery,
2012. Print
Cunningham, Bill, Alma Flores, Radcliffe Dacanay, and Carmen
Pickarski, 20-minute
Neighborhoods Analysis: Background Report and Analysis Area
Studies. Rep.
Portland; Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, 2012. Portland
Plan. City of
Portland, Oregon, 5 June 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.