Trash

Do you ever stop to think about the amount of trash that you generate in a single day? Or week? Or year? After living in Samoa for a semester and seeing the negative impacts of trash build-ups I have tried to become a more conscientious recycler. But even recycling does not completely eliminate waste, it just extends it's life cycle. There is a real problem with the way things are packaged today. It's a plastic overload. Sure it's convenient and cheaper in the short run but plastic does not biodegrade so we'll be living with it for a long time to come.

Two interesting stories I read recently. One is about the 3.5 million tons of trash floating around in the dead zone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The second is about a man who saved every single piece of trash he accumulated for a whole year. Disgusting yeah? I agree. But it does make you think about your own lifestyle and things you can do to minimize your own "trash footprint."

• Continent-size toxis stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean


• California man saves year's-worth of trash