Renting garbage
We buy disposable (by design) or temporarily trendy items, use them once or for a week or maybe a couple of months, and then toss them in the trash, paying for the privilege both times.
Hello friends - At my most recent visit to our local farmer’s market, the staff gave out reusable grocery bags branded by a regional bank. Grateful to have one more bag in good shape, I accepted willingly.
And a few moments later, it occured to me: what will become of this when it is no longer usable to carry stuff?
It’s kind of a curse, training yourself to think about the full lifecycle of all the things you acquire and use. It makes life complicated.
Not long before, I’d seen a young person carrying a trendy tote bag/purse branded with a vintage McDonald’s logo. They were chatting happily with their friends about the other items they owned with fast food logos. Apparently, it’s a thing.
And a night or two earlier, I’d read that the vast majority of the U.S. economy churns as a result of consumer spending (I think it said 70%, although now I can’t find the source). That includes more durable goods like homes, of course, but still - we are on an economic wheel powered by our purchases. Often purchases of low-quality, branded, plastic or petroleum-derived, chemically treated, marginally useful and meant to be obsolete soon garbage.
I walked for a while, pondering the idea that most of what we do is rent garbage. We buy these disposable (by design) or temporarily trendy items, use them once or for a week or maybe a couple of months, and then toss them in the trash. We pay both times: to purchase, and to our municipalities to haul away. All the while, as we complain about inflation, much of what we give our hard-earned dollars for is fleeting enjoyment coupled with the fees and taxes to remove these items from our line of sight when we are done with them.
Because our economy depends on us doing just that. That’s important: while individual efforts to change buying and discarding habits are necessary, they are not sufficient. The standard narrative that we face trade-offs between protecting the environment and supporting business is only true if we accept the current conditions of business, based on excessive consumption and constant churn.
It hasn’t always been this way, and it doesn’t always have to be this way. And this is where reusable grocery bags, fast fashion, politics, and economics all intersect: systemic change is possible, necessary, and will benefit the vast majority of people on the planet. Not to mention the planet itself, our mother earth.
As always, I appreciate your companionship on this journey.