Waste Not Want Not

Fall On Me - R.E.M.

It has been said that the 400 series of highways in the Greater Toronto area are the busiest in North America and includes the 400, 401, 427, 410 and 417.  The 401 alone is busier than the Santa Monica Freeway, interstates in Houston and Atlanta and between Detroit and Ontario, it is the busiest trucking route. So, it is no wonder that so many accidents occur on its congested tarmac. And while it has been stated that approximately 3% of all accidents actually involve transport trucks, when one is involved in a collision, the back up of traffic can be a nightmare costing millions of dollars in lost revenue for business counting on the movement of traffic and of course employees making it to their destination.


In July of 2007, in a span of a week on the exact same stretch of highway two 18-wheelers were involved in rollovers. One truck was carrying hot tar, the other liquid sugar. Both created a traffic and cleanup nightmares. But thinking about it in the context of waste and the state of our garbage dumps put a more comical picture to the mess. 


Rats are not the cutest furry creature and the thought of them roaming the garbage and sewers can actually be quite repulsive. Unless you picture Templeton - the sarcastic rodent from Charlotte's Web voiced by Paul Lynde. Hundreds of Templeton's all pumped up on a massive sugar high, because the truck that rolled over was carrying granular sugar! Scooped up off the road, it end up in the dump with the un-recyclable twisted truck parts. A veritable feast for the sweet-toothed rats, they scurry around like frantic bees looking for more in the mounds of trash we discard. 


On a more serious note, we have to put more thought into the waste we create. It seems that we have taken some serious steps backwards in our environmental efforts. Yes, we do recycle a lot more than we used to but what about the other 2 R's. Reduce and Reuse? The almighty marketing machine has done a wonderful job in making us so paranoid about catching diseases that we bought disposable cutting boards just for our chicken. Soap isn't enough, now we have to fill our homes with separate containers of hand sanitizer. The broom and dustpan that don't need replacing for years, now shares duty with the Swiffer and it's one use cloths. I say share duty because you still need the dustpan to pick up the bits the Swiffer has amassed but not picked up. Then there is the fancy new coffee makers that in packaging and product used and thrown out for one cup of special coffee is mind blowing. However, I think that the innovation of products to clean the bathroom is the worst of offenders. Once upon a time you could use one cloth to clean all the surfaces, start with the mirror, then the sink and shower and end with the toilet. Now, you have one kind of disposable cloth that cleans the mirror, another for the sink. There is an automatic sprayer that drenches the shower, and the toilet brush is discarded in the toilet when you are done.  


It is simply too many chemicals and garbage that we are producing and for the most part, they are unnecessary. The disinfected and overly sanitized homes that we are living in are in large part a contributing factor to the increase in maladies that we are seeing. From the common cold to the more serious cancer and Alzheimers, we are not allowing our bodies do what they were intended to do - produce natural immunity to fight off germs. Couple that with the chemicals that we are exposed to while we tackle the invisible killers and we don't really have a chance. There are plenty of people who are healthy and alive today that grew up in home that was chemically-free cleaned. The exertion from a little hard word didn't hurt either. Even Templeton is suffering the ill-effect from the toxic effects of our waste. 


I'm not saying don't use the products of convenience and pleasure, just be aware that their are alternatives. We should be looking at some of these innovations as conveniences and not necessities. 


Consider that the baby boomer generation and predecessors grew up in families of 6 or more in homes that were much smaller than the children of today expect. It was the norm to have to share a room with at least one sibling. Hand me downs were the rule not the exception. There was one car for the family, not one car per family member! Today, the square footage of the family home is double or triple in living area for a family that has shrunk in size. The ironic thing is that the houses are so crammed with consumer goods that storage has become the issue. Where do you put it all? A new growth industry has blossomed, and what community doesn't have a block of self-storage units? If you can lock it up in a storage unit, maybe you don't really need it? Out of sight, out of mind...go buy another one, because it is easier and quicker than looking for it in the clutter at home or going through the piles in the storage unit. Great for the consumer-driven marketplace, not so great for the environment. Each product you purchase has impacted the environment in production, transportation and eventual disposal. Think about it before you bring it home. 


Templeton and I will both be grateful. And so will the generations to come.