Four Winds Nature Institute
4 Casey Rd. Chittenden, VT 05737
802-353-9440 www.fourwindsinstitute.org
Ecosystems – WASTE NOT – Background
All organisms produce waste, the leftovers from living. Snakes shed their skins and deer shed
their antlers; owls and squirrels leave behind the remnants of meals; trees drop their leaves onto
the forest floor. These organic wastes become food for a host of decomposers and are eventually
turned into soil. Humans produce organic waste as well, but we also create products through
manufacturing and mining that are not easily decomposed. In fact, the buildup of solid waste has
become a serious problem with far-reaching effects on ecosystems. Through the simple actions
we take in our homes and decisions we make in our lives, every person, young and old, can help
to reverse this trend.
The term “biodegradable” means that something will be broken down by microorganisms into
naturally occurring substances. Food leftovers, bones and antlers, fur and feathers, and dead
plants and animals, all serve as food for other organisms. With the help of the rain and sun, they
gradually decay, forming humus, the water-holding, organic layer of nutrients in the soil that is
essential to terrestrial life.
One problem with human garbage is that much of it is not biodegradable; that is, there are no
organisms that are capable of breaking it down. We take natural materials like oil, clay, sand, and
metal ores, and then transform them into extremely durable materials like plastics, ceramics,
glass, and steel. These will break down only after hundreds or thousands of years, if ever. They
will not decay unless there are decomposers capable of digesting them. Some may break down
into fragments by mechanical means but these fragments may never return to a natural state that
can be taken up by organisms. Nuclear reactors produce high-level radioactive waste, which
continues to emit radiation for tens of thousands of years. We do not yet have a solution for how
to dispose of or store this waste safely while it decays.
Growing mounds of trash take up space, ruin habitat, and sometimes cause danger to humans and
wildlife. In addition, some materials, like paper or food, items that normally biodegrade, are
actually preserved in landfills because they are sealed away from the air, and so are not exposed
to the bacteria that would help them to decompose. In the Garbage Project, researchers
investigating the contents of landfills found newspapers that were legible after forty years in a
landfill, as well as intact carrots and lettuce!
Another problem is the huge volume of solid waste that we produce. In the past people had fewer
belongings and those they had were designed to last. Our grandparents would chide us with
sayings like, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” Now many products are much
less durable, designed to be disposed of and replaced after only one or a few uses. Because we
produce so much solid waste, our landfills are filling up and there are few places to build new
ones where human neighborhoods and wildlife habitat are not affected. Also, the collection and
disposal of large quantities of solid waste takes a tremendous amount of energy, most of which
comes from non-renewable energy sources. The cost of solid waste disposal is one of our biggest
domestic expenditures.
We can all help to lessen the solid waste problem. Reducing means cutting down on what we
manufacture, buy, and consume as well as reducing what we throw away. When we concentrate
on reducing the things we buy, we are actually preventing trash from being created in the first
place. This is called, “source reduction” and it goes a long way toward protecting the
environment. Considering carefully what we buy, how it is packaged, and how long we keep it,
sends a message to manufacturers to re-think the kinds of goods they produce.
Reusing is linked to reducing in many ways. For example, using cloth instead of paper napkins,
cloth shopping bags instead of plastic, can save energy, resources, and money. Cloth napkins and
bags can be used for years, and though it takes time and energy to wash them, it is less than
making and disposing of paper and plastic. Bringing along a re-fillable travel mug or water
bottle, buying used furniture, clothing, or other goods, and choosing more durable, reuseable
products, are ways we can help to conserve resources and reduce waste.
Recycling means discarding an item in such a way that its materials can be made into new
products. Making used paper into new paper is a way to use this resource over and over again,
and reduces the need for cutting trees to make new paper. At recycling facilities, present in most
communities, products made of glass, aluminum, paper, tin, certain plastics, and other materials
are collected and shipped to locations where they are processed into new items. In this way,
waste material can be a valuable resource. Recycling conserves natural resources, saves energy
and landfill space, and also saves money.
Composting is a recycling process that is just like what happens to animal and plant waste in the
ecosystems all around us: organic, non-toxic wastes are turned into compost, which can be used
by farmers and gardeners as rich fertilizer. We can compost yard and food waste in the backyard
or in municipal composting facilities. Composting can greatly reduce the amount of garbage one
household adds to the waste stream, and it creates a resource for garden soil in the process.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, we generate over 251 million tons of
solid waste or about 4.4 pounds per person per day in the United States. This figure does not take
into account each person’s share of industrial waste, which is produced in the manufacture of
goods. Although the amount of solid waste generated each year continues to increase, the rate of
growth has slowed, a result of source reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting. In 2011,
Americans recycled and composted over 87 million tons of trash, achieving a 34.7% recycling rate,
compared to only 10% in 1980. The problems of solid waste management are leading us to
change how we think and to consider the environmental costs for making a product over its
entire lifetime, from obtaining the raw materials to its eventual disposal.
Just as technology has spurred creativity in the production of new materials and ways to use
them, it also brings many opportunities for creative solutions to the solid waste issue. Significant
advances have been made in the development of biodegradable materials along with a shift in
perspective in which waste is considered a valuable resource to be “mined,” instead of a problem
to be solved.
The Iroquois’s rule of law required elders to consider the impact of every decision on the next
seven generations, two hundred years into the future. Our decision to reduce, reuse, recycle, and
compost can make a difference in our own lifetime. A change in our outlook so that we consider
all the costs, including disposal, of things we buy or make or use will help to sustain the health of
natural ecosystems and all their inhabitants into the future.
Suggested Reading
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/wastes
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency New England:
http://www.epa.gov/region1/solidwaste/index.html
Weisman, Alan. The World Without Us. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2007.
http://www.worldwise.com/biodegradable.html
The Garbarge Project - http://traumwerk.stanford.edu:3455/17/174
To find current recycling information for your area, visit your local solid waste district website.
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