In the article Talking Trash, by Andy Rooney he focuses on the problems associated with large numbers of trash all around the world. He gives us a play by play description of just how much trash is thrown away each and every day. We never consider when we go to a grocery store that the majority of our items are in containers and cartons and bags, and when we arrive to the checkout line all we do is place them in more bags and cartons. Rooney highlights the amount of materials that we as human discard and comes to the conclusion that we more than likely discard 25 percent of the items that we purchase. Rooney emphasizes his concern with turning our world into one massive dump if nothing is done to prevent the amount of trash we throw away. At the end of his article he reminds us that if we don't do anything to stop all of our wastes, "The Earth could end up as one huge, uninhabitable dump."
One of the reasons I chose this article to write about is my history with working in a grocery store. I worked at my neighborhood Jewel-Osco for 2 years and witnessed just the amount of waste that Rooney is talking about. For starters, all the groceries are delivered to us in boxes or cartons as they are unloaded from the truck. Then after we take these items from the truck, we take the individual cartons and bags from these boxes and put them out there for customers to purchase. Once the customer has chosen their groceries, they can then bring them to the checkout where we will bag most of their groceries. Depending on the item we may use two plastic bags, or two paper bags, or mix and match. However, often times when the consumer gets home, half of the materials used to transport the items from place to place are discarded of. Since I was in the third grade I have been informed of the problems with the amount of trash we have here on earth. I have learned about its effects on the ozone layer, and what will happen when we run out of places to throw away our trash. Although there is a recycling program in most places around the world, the truth is most people ignore these programs and simply continue to throw all of their items away. For instance, I have been living in the dorms at Iowa State University for the past nine months, and watch people constantly throw away items such as bottles and empty boxes. One of the worst displays I have seen of waste was the day after move in. There were TONS of boxes in the dumpsters that people had used to carry up all of their items. Truth is most people don't need to use boxes and cartons and plastics bags to move all of their stuff, but they choose to anyway and wind up wasting a lot of material. I see everyday that their is an abundance of trash in the trash cans and every so often wonder where all of it goes. I wonder what will actually happen when all the dumps are full, and am concerned that people will begin to take action when it is too late. I believe if we begin to conserve now and are more conscience of programs such as recycling we can eliminate the problems associated with trash. Although we are not feeling the effect of being wasteful consumers, I want to avoid the day that comes when we have nothing left to do with our "trash."
