Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair With Trash (33 page)

Nine Dragons Paper, 11

nurdles, 101–2

nylon, 125

ocean trash

age determination of plastic in, 121

beach accumulations of, 65, 102–3, 112, 123–24, 127, 252–53

buoyancy and mobility of, 102–3

cleanup project, 100–101, 109–10

endangerment of marine wildlife by, 98, 108, 112, 122, 214

entrapment in gyres, 103–6, 127

escaped and unaccounted-for plastic, 102, 127

in food chain, 99–100, 118–20

and ghost nets, 112

municipal dumping and, 28–29, 37, 46–47

Pacific Garbage Patch, 104–6, 120–21

plastic capture devices, 110–12, 113, 114

prevalence of plastic in, 96, 98–99, 106–7, 118, 121–22, 127, 214

toxin accumulation in plastic, 99, 119–20

types of plastics, 127

undocumented data on, 122

Offenhuber, Dietmar.
See
Trash Track

Orbelian, George, 109

Pacific Garbage Patch, 104–6, 120–21.
See also
ocean trash

packaging.
See also
bottles; plastic grocery bags

biodegradability of, 4–5, 158, 217

cost of, versus products contained in, 246, 257–58

as instant trash, 5, 127, 245, 246, 258

as proportion of waste stream, 35, 52

Packard, Vance, 62–63

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), 119–20

pigs and piggeries, 36, 38, 68–70

plasma gasification, 224, 237

plastic grocery bags

annual consumption of, 65, 191–92, 213, 217

bans and fees, 194–95, 196, 198–203, 220

chronology of, 194–95

cost to consumers, 65, 199, 218

downcycling of, 197

industry arguments for, 218–19

industry lawsuits, 193–94, 196, 200–201, 202–4, 209–16

infiltration of consumer market, 195–97

as litter, 53, 65, 188, 203

prevalence in landfills, 53, 188, 217

as proportion of waste stream, 217

recycling, 197–98, 213, 233

as symbol of wastefulness, 217–19

plastics.
See also
ocean trash; plastic grocery bags

amount unaccounted for, 7, 127

combined recycling statistics, 198, 213

impact of World War II on plastics industry, 125–26

invention and marketing of, 124–25, 126

oil to produce, 126

ubiquity of, 65, 123, 126

pollution.
See also
air pollution; ocean trash; toxic chemicals and materials

nurdle spills, 101–2

plastic bag litter, 53, 65, 188, 203

POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants), 119–20

Portland, Oregon

food waste collection in, 238

green practices of, 221–22

plastic bag ban in, 238

trash generation and landfilling in, 223

waste management considerations of, 223–25, 237

power generation.
See also
waste-to-energy

from landfill gases, 20, 23, 31, 80, 94

plasma gasification, 224, 237

solar power, 234–35

wasted energy, 259

wind power, 229

pre-production plastic pellets, 101–2

Pritchard, Tim, 133, 134, 142

Progressive Bag Affiliates, American Chemistry Council, 210

Project Kaisei

educational mission of, 112–14

goals of, 100–101, 109–10

inspiration for, 107–8

prototype plastic capture device of, 110–12, 113, 114

Scripps partnership, 99–100, 109, 117–19

trash trawls of, 97–99

Puente Hills landfill, Los Angeles County

compacting process of, 19–22

contents of, 24, 55–57

daily flow of trash in, 29–31, 93

economic viability of, 91–92

energy generation of, 20, 23, 31

escape of grocery bags in, 53

escape of methane from, 230

leachate from, 24

as model landfill, 37

nature preserve, 19, 90–91

odor management of, 24, 31–32

origin as town dump, 26

purchase of land for, 71–72

seagull management in, 32–33

size and expansion of, 20, 23–24, 73–74, 90–91

terminal phase, 93–94

Qualcomm, 139

Quinn, Feargal, 199

Rathje, Bill, 129, 161–64.
See also
Garbage Project

Recology company, 173–76

recycling

combined plastics statistics, 198, 213

economics of, 126, 191, 198, 233

energy advantage of, 232–33

first mandatory, 29, 41–44

historical practice of, 41

impact of opaque trash bags and compacting trash trucks, 70

inefficiencies of, 138, 139–40

Materials Recovery Facilities, 44

offshore hazardous-materials facilities, 138, 142

perpetuation of wastefulness, 139, 177, 219

and plastic grocery bags, 197–98, 213

rate estimates, 7–9, 25, 134, 213

residue from, 233–34

theft of recyclable materials, 175–76

repurposing, 209, 253.
See also
artist-in-residence program, San Francisco dump

Riis, Jacob, 40

Rodriguez, Abel, 182

Rome, ancient, trash accumulation in, 27–28

Rubel, Remi, 180

San Francisco.
See also
artist-in-residence program, San Francisco dump

composting in, 175

per capita trash generation of, 177

plastic bag legislation in, 195, 200–202

recycling in, 173–76

waste hauling in, 176

sanitary landfills.
See
landfills

Sayers, Dorothy L., 17

scavenging, 41, 70, 174

Scotts Company, 205–8

Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
See
Project Kaisei

Sea Education Association, 121

seagulls, 32–33

SEAPLEX (Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition).
See
Project Kaisei

Seattle, waste management in, 134

SENSEable City Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See
Trash Track

single-use grocery bags.
See
plastic grocery bags

smart trash.
See
Trash Track

Smith, Norton, 110, 113, 114

Smith, Sheli, 152–53, 165–66

soda bottles.
See
bottles

solar power, 234–35

Solid Waste Association of North America, 54

Solid Waste Disposal Act (1965), 70

Speiser, Mike “Big Mike,” 19–22, 54, 93–94

Steiner, David.
See
Waste Management, Inc. (WMI)

Steinman, Susan Leibovitz, 180–81

Sterling, Bruce, 131

Stookey, Nathaniel, 171

Superbag Operating, Ltd., 210, 216

Superfund program, 27, 83

Swanson Foods, 66

Szaky, Tom, 204–9

TerraCycle, 204–9

Themelis, Nickolas, 227, 231–32, 233–34, 236–37

Thomas, Marta, 181

toxic chemicals and materials

in affluent versus poor neighborhoods, 150

bio-magnification, 119–20

dioxins, 49, 89, 230

entrapment through plasma gasification, 224

in e-waste, 138, 140–42

improper disposal of, 30, 56, 149–50, 158

in landfill leachate, 24, 83, 158–59

in marine plastics, 99, 119–20

mass burn technology output, 230

municipal collection programs, 149–50

in plastics, 66, 258

Superfund program, 27, 83

waste-to-energy emissions, 88, 89, 230, 232

trash.
See also
Garbage Project; Trash Track;
specific types and issues

amount generated, 4–5, 7–9, 15, 52, 150–51, 256–57

as archaeological record, 22, 145–46

closed loop system, 76, 77, 175, 236

components of, 34, 35

costs of, 7

emerging types of, 138

export to China, 9–11

facts about, 15, 95–96

invisibility of, 6, 57, 139

as measure of prosperity, 5–6, 58–60

receptacle size and, 150–51

trash Olympics, 54–55

Trash Track

citizen volunteers, 139

e-waste follow-up project, 141–42

findings of, 137–40

goal and inception of, 132–34

launch of trash into waste stream, 136–37

location of program, 133–34

technology used in, 134–36

Ulehla, Niki, 169–71, 185–86

Union Carbide, 70

United Nations estimate of ocean plastic, 96

upcycling, 13, 209

Vienna, waste-to-energy plant in, 230

Virginia Garbage War, 29

Wareham, William, 180

Waring, George E., 39–44

waste.
See
trash

wastefulness

cultural shift from, 236–37

invisibility of, 6, 57, 139

as mind-set and habit, 161–64, 179, 217, 219

as norm, 64, 257–59

plastic grocery bags as symbol of, 217–19

recycling as license for, 139, 177, 219

to reduce, 260–61

versus waste, 162–63

Waste Makers, The
(Packard), 62–63

waste management.
See
landfills; waste-to-energy;
specific issues

Waste Management, Inc. (WMI)

funding of Trash Track study, 132

green technologies of, 80–81

inception and growth of, 77–79

landfill business of, 75–76, 78, 80

waste-to-energy.
See also
power generation

cost of large-scale plants, 232

Danish model of, 227–29, 231

district heating, 228

emissions of, 88, 89, 230, 232

mass burn technology of, 230

objections to, 224–25

plasma gasification, 224, 237

versus recycling, 233–34

regions adopting, 25, 227, 234

small-scale operations, 227, 234–35

trash flow for, 8

unrealized visions for, 71, 73, 82, 84–90

Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council, 241

water bottles.
See
bottles

wind energy, 229

WMI.
See
Waste Management, Inc. (WMI)

Woodring, Doug, 109

Wright, Willard H., 68–69

Wyeth, Nathaniel, 66

Yorty, Sam, 29

Zhang Yin, 9–11

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

E
DWARD
H
UMES
is the author of eleven critically acclaimed nonfiction books, including
Force of Nature
,
Monkey Girl
,
Over Here
,
School of Dreams
,
No Matter How Loud I Shout
and the bestseller
Mississippi
Mud
. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN Award and numerous other awards for his journalism and books. He has written for the
New York Times
, the
Los Angeles Times
,
Los Angeles Magazine
and
Sierra
. He lives with his family—including the two most recent additions, a pair of rescued racing greyhounds—in California.