Above, one of three mounds at the Seneca Meadows Landfill in Waterloo, NY, as seen from the west side of Seneca Lake approximately eight miles away (through a telephoto lens). Credit: Kevin Colton, HWS.

EPA Region Map

EPA Region Map
EPA Region Map

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Garbage in Odell's

Unfortunately, this picture was taken outside of my Odell's unit. I asked my roommates to leave our trash from the week outside of our door so they could actually see how much trash we make. A household of 4 girls somehow managed to create 5 to 6 bags of trash in a week. I am the only Environmentally Studies major in my house and it seems that I am the only one you really cares about the amount of trash I throw out. I watched my roommates make dinner tonight and I decided I would follow Royte's lead and take a mini inventory of their trash compared to mine. After making my meal, I had 2 little plastic bags that had vegetables in it and a plastic wrapper that left over. To be honest, I had no idea if I could recycle my plastic. I didn't want to contaminate the recycling so I threw it out. After one of my roommates finished cooking, I looked at what she had but in the garbage can- a plastic container of sour cream, 3 plastic bags for vegetables, a empty box of pasta, half a bag of carrots (that were "too dried out"), a can of chick peas(this was put in the recycling thankfully), and a plastic wrapper for cheese. This is only from one of my roommates. It is no wonder that we have so many bags of trash from a week- we waste so much. My parents always taught me to not throw away much and use as much as I could, so I would like to think that I produce less waste than my roommates. The second picture is of the trash of a different Odell's unit. I saw this and was shocked. Not only is there a cardboard box in there, but there is an old Dell computer battery! When I asked the former owner of this battery why they threw it away, she looked confused and said, "Well what else would I do with it? It doesn't work anymore. It is trash now." I asked her if she had ever heard of E-waste and she hadn't, so I explained a little bit and she admitted that she hadn't even thought about what would happen to the battery after it left her house. As an Environmental Studies major I have had so much more exposure to issues such as e-waste and trash than other majors, such as Studio Art (like my friend who I previously mentioned), so while it is easy to be critical and think that things like recycling are a no-brainer, others haven't had as much exposure as we have. Hopefully my friend will spread her knowledge!

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