April is Earth Month, at least, unofficially. And, what with Earth Month and Earth Day 2024 both coming up, it might not be a bad idea to start getting prepared today on ways to cut down on the different types of waste we create.
Having said that, I now say this: We humans are wasters. There is just no denying this fact. That we create waste is an inevitability, a reality. But, what refuse we create, what we do with it (how we dispose of it), and what we try to do to minimize it and therefore leave less of an imprint (these days, better known as footprint) is what matters most.
As an aside, in 2021 I received from the City of Fresno a printed paper distribution in December; a guide on holiday waste disposal, “advising” residents as to what type of refuse goes where. Among items to go in the regular trash bin were bows and ribbons, wrapping paper containing foil or glitter and styrofoam. Wrapping paper without the glitter or foil, gift tissue paper, flattened cardboard boxes and greeting cards were to go in the blue recycling bin. And in the green compost bin was to go Christmas trees minus decorations, decoration- and wire-free wreaths, and live poinsettia plants. It was a handy guide, indeed!
And with the then new garbage disposer I purchased way back when came an insert which, in reality, was a food-waste-recycling guide. That fold-out pamphlet contained some really valuable food-waste-recycling information.
So, info. regarding how to properly dispose of different types of household waste is out there, but in locating it, this can involve doing some diligent legwork.
And since I’m on the subject and it is I that brought all of this up, just how wasteful are we? In order to understand how wasteful, wasteful in this context is, from where I sit it is helpful to have a reference from which a comparison or comparisons can be made.
So, I have to start by talking about my childhood days. I flash back to 1950s and ‘60s Baltimore, Maryland.
Milk delivery/bottle pick-up. In those days, what were referred to as “milkmen” delivered milk and possibly other dairy items as well, right to our front door, the filled bottles placed in these small, cubed-shape cold-storage containers that sat right on the front porch. The milk was packaged in glass bottles. When emptied, these were placed in the storage containers for pickup when the “milkman” delivered the full bottles of milk on the next part of the delivery/pick-up cycle. The empty bottles, once arriving at the milk-bottling facility, were washed and sterilized and used again and again and again. There was none of this paper or plastic packaging stuff, except for shaped-and-fitted aluminum wrap or paper plug that kept the liquid contents contained in its proper place.
Now, this isn’t to say there weren’t other kinds of waste created in adopting this type of approach. The trucks emitted toxic pollutants and I would have to believe my parents received a monthly paper (hardcopy) bill in the mail and in response, the remittance portion along with payment-check-inside-a-paper-envelope was mailed back.
However, today there are more eco-friendly ways of going about bill-paying and what-not. The trucks could run on biofuels, biogas, natural gas, they could be EV’s or even be “hybridized.” And, not just this, but, you know all of that methane that milking cows produce? Well, it can be captured through on-the-dairy-farm methane digesters, the byproduct of which could be used to power the trucks that deliver the milk in bulk to the pasteurizing, processing facility if located offsite. And, as to the methane created via cow burps, this can, as well, be lowered depending on the feed the cows’ diets consist of. Sounds like an environmental win all around, if you ask me.
Okay, so speaking of poop, again, when my family lived in our second home, I recall seeing trucks (very similar in design to those that were used to deliver milk), that would course through the neighborhood, the drivers (employees) tasked with the responsibility of picking up from participating families’ homes laundry bags full of soiled, made-from-cotton (cloth) baby diapers that needed cleaning and once done, were returned. There was none of this disposable diaper business, where the dirty diapers just ended up in the municipal landfill where, here again, landfill (methane) gas from such can be given off.
Okay, so I’ve got to talk now about the produce wagon pulled by a horse and piloted by the produce peddler that used to frequent the first neighborhood I lived in during the warm- or warmer-weather months. The horse of course that provided the muscle that moved the wagon had to be fed and could leave a trail of horse manure which, to be honest, I hadn’t a clue who was responsible for cleaning up. But, when you think about it, this service was pretty much emissions-free, the produce was brought to you and if you made a purchase, you paid the peddler on the spot. I also like the idea that the power for these wagons were self-replicating. Self-replicating? Imagine, fancy that.
Which reminds me, the only remnant I see of this today are the produce stands that you need to get to yourself rather than them coming to you.
This all brought to you today as a reminder that Earth Month — April, starts Monday.
Which reminds me, incidentally, that the first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. FYI: The 55th Earth Day will be here before you know it!