Appalachia--Science in the Public Interest

Principle: All domestic materials are resources; none are
"wastes." The goal is to reduce the waste stream as much as
possible.

Sound waste management is critical in an environmentally
conscious organization. In fact, the lack of environmental
consciousness is directly related to the management of waste
products. In our country several critical waste problems have
surfaced:

Landfills are in short supply and are rapidly being
filled, since such a large portion of the average consumer
product is disposable wrappings and containers;
Incinerators generate air pollution and worry local
residents;
Areas without regulations on waste have lower levels of
reuse and recycling;
Economically deprived areas have greater quantities of
shorter-lived, secondhand products and thus more disposal
problems than have more affluent neighborhoods that, in turn,
actually obtain tax credits for their disposal "generosity."

The environmentally conscious organization is thrust into
this world of waste materials. Reducing need for consumer
products and thus waste, reusing materials, and recycling the
leftovers is part of the general strategy that must be adopted.
However, this is not always an easy matter.

The late Albert Baldwin of London, Kentucky was almost
totally unlettered, but was an excellent innovator. He was able
to make a living on less than two acres of rocky hilltop
overlooking beautiful Woods Creek Lake. Albert never took or
sent any domestic materials to a landfill in his life. This can
be done when one never buys superfluities, uses few disposable
containers, buys bulk products, composts yard wastes, feeds
kitchen waste to the chickens, preserves all foods by canning and
drying, burns wood scrap and small amounts of paper waste as
kindling, and utilizes normally discarded things (e.g.,
pulverizing glass into sand for cement and burying metal cans in
the orchard to give iron to the trees).

To modern society, waste seems like a natural consequence--
but need it be so? Nature abhors wastefulness. But regardless
of protestations, Americans are plagued by modern wasteful
habits. This is due to sheer amount of waste (an average of four
pounds of municipal waste per person per day), variety of waste
products, toxicity of products, and/or lack of biodegradability
of certain products. Both individuals and communities are
challenged to act differently in The Age of Waste. Some say
waste products are the major hallmark of this generation and the
mountains of garbage are our legacy to future generations.

For the environmentally conscious, on the other hand, waste
is not a noun. There are not naturally created "waste
materials;" rather materials are used in a wasteful manner
conditioned by the culture. The Book of Genesis says all created
things are good. Waste materials are the tailings of the worship
of material things, wages of social sin, denial of natural cyclic
reasoning, disorder of our lives, and the unresolved will to act
in a prudent manner. Waste belies our civilization and mocks the
word "culture." Waste is lack of care. Show us how much a
person throws away, and we can tell you the degree of
environmental consciousness.

A Wasting Age. In a world of natural cycles, the byproduct
of one activity becomes the raw material for the next. Rebels to
the natural cycles feel content to waste resources and even
attempt to justify the practice through arguing that their time
is valuable and convenience necessary. For them the linear
progression from raw material to disposed waste ends at the point
of disposal (junk pile, landfill or the incinerator).

A Waste Management Plan. A general waste management plan
that involves the following four parts can be developed --

1) knowing what waste individuals and groups generate;
2) accepting responsibility for waste generation;
3) seeing the waste culture's impact on our world; and
4) realizing waste reuse and reduction opportunities
through concrete resource conservation steps.

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