Why do people produce so much trash?

Question

We hear about the problem everyday, our landfills are filling up faster than the trash will decompose. If we don't change our ways the waste system will become overwhelmed. So if people know this then why do they continue to produce and throw away so much trash?

Answer 1

Because the problem also lays in the hands of manufacturers, who use packaging that is not biodegradable. Haven't you seen all those packages of computers, TV's, Ipods, cameras, etc. made in China that come with all sorts of foam packaging? The government should regulate packaging at this point so that ultimate buyers would not be the only ones responsible for recycling.

Answer 2

When I was young (more than 50 years ago) we set out one trash can each week. It was a 20 gallon can, not two big 35 gallon trash bags. It wasn't full. The can was emptied and returned, not thrown away.
When we bought nails, we went to a hardware store and the there was a clerk (who had a job and gave personalized service) who would measure out you request and sold it by the pond or ounce as you requested and put it in a small paper bag. You would pay a dime or so and walk home with them. The hardware and all other stores were in walking distance.
Today you drive five miles, get a blister pack with ten or twenty nails, pay $2.69 and end up throwing the huge plastic package in the trash! No clerk with a job to help either so you have to search for what you want and then stand in line to check out.
Does that give you a clue?

Answer 3

Because it's convenient. (or lazy, if you will)

90% of our trash is packaging. USA make up only 8% of the world population and yet produce 50% of the world's garbage. Coincidentally, there is an obesity crisis. People opt for convenience, eating food from packaging. Everything can be found in individual portions, which uses a lot of packaging. These packaged food are very unhealthy and lead to obesity. Average American family also throw away $400 of food a year because they forgot to eat them.

There should be a gluttony tax.

Answer 4

It's not the people who produce so much unnecessary trash, it's the companies with their ridiculously opulent packaging. The 'people' have a burden. The burden of dividing the materials for
recycling, getting the materials to the recycling centers (if there are any) and and and. The industry has to wake up and start to package sensibly and therefor make a more comfortable life for the consumer. I take recycling very serious,
but I tell you, it's a burden on me.

Answer 5

It is definitely demonstrative of our convenience culture. Pre-packaged foods and marketing based packaging, vs environment friendly packaging, even if it is a little more plain. I love the idea of a Styrofoam tariff, if they can charge us to dispose of tires, and oil and paint, they should be able to find a way to at least tax the foam coming in from overseas and a way to reuse it here domestically. We are all very guilty of waste. If we take a'brownbag lunch to work, it often has a plastic sandwich bag inside, as it is easier than washing a sandwich size storage container everyday.I understand that the plastic bags do degrade, but still those chemical components cannot be natural

Answer 6

Matt...the world is one Giant trash machine with slave
workers, everyone on the planet, working for free.
You can make money off a stupid scam claiming you
have a solution but you can't stop trash from building
up. you think that's bad? Try swimming in the Ocean.
any of them. Don't be suprised if you see a "snickers
bar" floating in the waters.

Answer 7

I know! I'm always embarrassed when my husband and I go out for fast food, how much trash just 2 people make in 1 meal. When I go to Taco Bell I always make them give me the smaller paper cup instead of the mondo plastic one they always want to give you. If they give you plastic cups they could at least have a recycling bin in the restaurant.

Answer 8

i think zudita is right. manufactures create an awfully lot of trash and we are a materialistic society so we keep buying and throwing out that packaging. we are also lazy. if we washed diapers and dishers there would not be so many diapers and styrofoam in our landfills.

Answer 9

Because it is not quality that sells products, it is marketing. The pacakaging of retail products is enormous. People use disposable items like water instead of refilling it from a sparklets bottle

Answer 10

it's part of the packaging, however, the caring people segregate the trashes into categories for recycling, compost and avoid buying or marketing non recyclable like disposable diapers.