Sustainable Works, Day Three: Waste

The topic of tonight's Sustainable Works session was all about Waste - what happens to our waste, what can we do to reduce our waste, and another reason why a plant based diet is good for our environment*. (*This is my personal statement and does not reflect the opinion of Sustainable Works.)

In tonight's class, we learned that the US has only 5% of the world's population, but consumes 30% of the world's resources and creates 30% of the world's waste. Americans, on average, throw away 4.5 pounds of trash per person each day. In the US and around the world, landfills are reaching capacity, and some nations are even shipping their waste off to more impoverished nations with more land space. This is becoming a problem for the entire planet, and we must start making changes individually if we want to see a difference.

The solutions come in the form of the classic Three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

You can reduce the amount of waste you have by implementing reusable bags, bottles, utensils, containers, etc., and recycling plastics, paper, glass, and cans, rather than tossing them in the trash to be shipped off to landfills.  Instead of buying new items, you can shop at vintage stores or yard sales, or on craigslist, to find furniture, clothing, jewelry and more, which will often times be in better quality than the lower priced stuff you'd find at bargain shopping stores (like IKEA and 99C store).

Another solution to reduce waste is unfortunately not in as common practice as it should be: composting. Composting is something I came to embrace while I was living in Oakland for six months, but have unfortunately not been able to keep up since returning to Santa Monica since my space is limited and there are no green bins offered for my apartment complex. If you do have the space to set up compost, or live somewhere that it is offered publicly, I highly recommend it.  If you own or live in a house with a garden, this is the best source for reducing and reusing. You have the option to garden compost, where you set up a bin to collect weeds, lawn clippings, branches and kitchen scraps, or to get a worm bin, in which the worms will break down your cooking/kitchen scraps. In both cases, after the compost materials get broken down, they can be used to put vital nutrients into soil to grow lawns or vegetable gardens.

A plant based diet is the best solution to successful composting since animal products (bones, meat, dairy) can not be composted, but vegetable scraps compost very easily. Eating meat products contributes to landfill waste, where as a plant based diet does not.

These are just a handful of solutions to reduce waste. For more information, and to learn more about Sustainable Works, visit www.sustainableworks.org.