Why Do We Waste?

Yikes

We live in a world so crowded with waste that there is a patch of garbage twice the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean. Most people are aware that wasting resources is harmful for the environment, but why does waste still exist? I believe the answer lies in the production of items rather than the consumption of them.

Lauren Singer's waste jar.

From 2012 to 2016, a woman named Lauren Singer minimized her waste to the point that it could all be kept in a jar. At first, I was amazed by what she had accomplished, but soon I realized the impracticality of her strategy. Singer had lived a nearly waste-free life by making her own products and avoiding packaged ones; not everyone, however, has the resources or time to do this. So, instead of focusing on decreasing our consumption, we should minimize the production of unnecessary products.

Or, we could consume each other's waste. For example, my sister hates mushrooms on her pizza;  whenever she gets a slice with mushrooms on it, she removes the mushrooms and throws them away. I, on the other hand, love them on my pizza. Logically, I asked her for her mushrooms and both of us were more satisfied than we were before. In the words of Lars Eighner, "almost everything I have now has already been cast out at least once, proving that what I own is valueless to someone". If everyone valued their waste as highly as what they consume, like Eighner, then every single person in this world would benefit. In other words, if the producers of the world created exactly what each individual wanted, we would have no waste. So, the next time you go to discard something, think about its other uses before you waste it.