garbageland

If you've every been curious about where your 4.5 lbs/day of garbage goes, or the stuff in your recycling bin for that matter, Garbageland is definitely worth reading. It's actually kind of shocking to realize that we haven't really figured out a way to obliterate our garbage. I mean, we are basically doing what we've been doing for centuries: burying or burning garbage. Some is processed for reuse through recycling or composting, but most of it is still "tipped" into a landfill, where it will inevitably leach into the ground and pollute the water and soil. After reading this, I am reminded of how important it is to stem the flow of garbage at the beginning: the point of purchase. Instead of buying individual-sized packages of things, we can buy in bulk. I guess that's my goal for now: buy things with minimal packaging and bring my own packaging (grocery bags, for example) whenever I can. And stop buying things that I just don't need in the first place.