#032 There is No Away: Now We Have to Live With Our Leavings

Did you know that every piece of plastic that was ever produced is still on the planet? Did you know that disposable diapers take between 250 and 500 years to decompose? What that means is that the disposable diapers that your mother used on you as a kid are STILL in the landfill.  

For much of human history we have disposed of our garbage by carting it somewhere away from our living space and dumping it, burning it, or burying it. As our culture began to grow, disposing of garbage and human waste became more problematic which of course produced unsanitary conditions. This  sometimes resulted in devastating disease out breaks and epidemics. But, despite this, our garbage disposal techniques largely worked. This was because we were disposing of things that decomposed relatively easily. 

But the reign of decomposable garbage ended with the ushering in of plastics and petrochemicals that now exists in every part of our lives.  The problem is that these things never go away. Even though we send things to the landfill and they are "out of sight out of mind", our garbage remains there for hundreds of years. 

Listen to the entire episode to learn how you can do your part. Then just maybe the next time you reach to throw something away, you will take a minute to figure out how you could have never produced that piece of garbage in the first place.  

Always live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.  

Patrick