When walking around the aisles of Wegman's I noticed this obscure machine with empty water bottles next to it. After reading the directions for the machine it was clear that this was a perfect example of how to reduce, reuse and recycle. As shown in the picture above, there were numerous amounts of empty water bottles which people would take and fill up with water. All of these water bottles now instead of sitting in a landfill are reused for people to bring clean drinking water home. When checking out the lady asked if I had any bottles to return. I then realized that when people return their bottles they are rewarded with money.

This was absolutely disgusting. I went to visit a friend, walked into her room and this is what I found. I was totally grossed out. Nothing was separated, there was food rotting right on top. I was absolutely shocked that her room didn't smell. I talked to her about it, and she said that she would try to do better and try to separate this trash. I'm hoping that she actually listens.

I noticed this sitting on a window sill in my dorm, and I was pretty disturbed by it. The liquids in the bottles clearly are not Corona or Poland Springs water. It just brings up the disturbing question, what is in these bottles? You can't tell in the picture, but there was a layer of some sort of dark brown goo on the bottom then it lightens as it goes up. It's just gross and could easily have been disposed of. It didn't have to be left sitting there for everyone to see.

Bathroom waste and water update

One thing that everyone seems to feel about recycling is that what should, and should not be recycled is an extremely confusing question. Throughout this course and our readings we have discussed different types of materials that should be recycled and the picture on the top deals with this issue. Here we see paper towels, a toothpaste tube, and body product containers. My thought when looking at these items were if they were recyclable or not and if so where do I put them? From personal observation I have seen the majority of bathroom products go into the waste bin located within the bathroom regardless of what it is made of. I honestly do not know how I would properly dispose of the containers that hold our shampoo and other soap products. Would they be grouped with plastic bottles? I know these containers have left over soap in them, is that considered a contaminant and would that void them of being recycled? Information that answered these questions would be greatly helpful on increasing our ability to reduce non recycled bathroom waste. The picture on the bottom is the next update on my water consumption tracking. As you can see from each post it grows significantly and produces large quantities of waste. One thing i did think of though was the sustainability that is created if i do decide to recycle. There is a 5 cent return deposit on each bottle, times 30 in the large packs, $1.50 makes up for a significant portion of the cost of the water as well as ensures the bottles are recycled.

The Green Book

Friday afternoon I received my second Green Book essay exam from my sociology professor. This time the paper booklet did not stand out for the grade on it, but for the large recycle sign posted on the front cover. A fact which I had missed so many times before. The booklet is made with Roaring Springs paper products and claims to use a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste. After some research I found that the company is currently operating at 98% landfill free. In just one year has save 11 million gallons of water and reduced landfill space by 4,690 cubic yards. With this progress the company hopes to achieve zero waste in the near future.

The old landfill

The other day I was talking to my dad about our class and we got on the topic of landfills. He told me that when he was a kid my grandfather would take the household trash and throw it into a gully located about a mile up the road where they lived. This practice had stopped many many years ago, but was common place in the past. I searched out the location of the old "dump" and found that its actually still being used as a dump site, but not for household trash. When I peered over the edge of the gully I could see piles of rotting cabbage. The farmers across the street now use it as a place to dispose of unwanted cabbage. I also noticed a couple pieces of scrap wood along with various other unwanted items. This location is on Healey Road just a couple of miles away, the gully is about 40-50 ft.

Home Waste

While on spring break I was able to take two very good photos relating to waste that is generated at my house. The picture on the top is of two garbage bags that my family uses to throw our trash in that is generated throughout the day. I come from a 7 person, 2 dog household and when we are all home the amount of waste we generate builds up rather quickly. The two bags seen here can be generated up to every two days, meaning about one of those bags a day. In our waste district on Long Island the waste is collected and sorted at the dump site, aside from cans and glass we do not have to separate the waste that we generate. Paper and food products are the largest quantities of waste that those bags contain. The picture on the bottom was taken while on the train into New York City. If you look closely between the floor and the railroad platform you can see a huge mound of black garbage bags. I was able to grab a quick shot of this spectacle as the train was passing by. I was not sure what it was or how it gets disposed of but there was a literal mountain of black garbage bags in what appeared to be someones backyard. There were no sanitation buildings near by as far as i could tell and the building closest seemed to be a small housing facility. I thought this was something people would like to see and also speculate about.

I recently came across a new flavor of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Clusterfluff, which was an absolute delight. But after consuming the peanut butter and marshmallow filled dessert I wondered about the product itself. Shockingly the ice cream company had this thought as well, they too seemed concerned with the afterlife of each pint they created. The excess ice cream products are not acceptable in wastewater treatment plants, instead are sent to a methane bio-digester left for farmers and the remaining is used in composting.