Garbage In, Garbage Out

We Are The Only Species That Overconsumes - And The Only One With A Trash Problem

There is a branch in the social sciences called garbology. Its research relies on the principle that many of our habits and secrets can be found in wastebaskets and trash cans. Discarded items can open a window to someone's finances, love life, medical needs and family foibles, as well as indulgences and bad habits.

Trash might be civilization's most lasting accomplishment. More than sacred texts, beautiful temples and monuments, or great works of art and music, man-made plastic promises to survive nuclear wars and global warming. According to David Ferris, a writer for Sierra magazine, scientists are learning that minute elements of plastic seem never to completely disintegrate. Nurdles, the basic components of plastic, are now found in the digestive systems of fish, in the nests of hermit crabs, in the excrement of fur seals. Should aliens descend upon this planet in a millennium or two, they will infer that an intelligent species once inhabited the place - not from such as evidence as museums and libraries, but from nurdles sparkling in dung heaps and animal dwellings.

Anthropologists note that one of the more endearing social lubricants is the gift. The ritual of potlatch - periodic sharing of meals and valuables - is often highlighted because reciprocity among different individuals is expected and encouraged.

The same cannot be said of trash. Trash involves hierarchy, not circularity. Someone lower on the social order handles the bulk of it; the poorest of the poor live amid the refuse of the rich. If residents volunteered to take turns and haul each other's garbage cans to a common corner, trucks could save considerable time from negotiating the narrow alleys. And we could easily have trash pickups twice a week.

But trash is a tricky business. We don't want our neighbors sneaking a peek into our secret lives (or possibly stealing our identities). And we certainly don't want to expose our own infinite capacity for wasteful consumption.

Alexander E. Hooke is a professor of philosophy at Stevenson University. His e-mail is [e-mail].