Wasting away our future one trash bag at a time

Hollywood has made enough futuristic dystopian movies to give us a glimpse of what a trash-filled world will look like. Many show the corner of our famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign: tilted, half-buried and covered in rubbish or sand. This image always piques my interest.

What can we do to avoid a future of being buried in our waste?

As most people already know, recycling saves resources, water and huge amounts of energy, which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Whether you are an avid recycler or one who recycles when it’s convenient, there are a few important questions to consider.

Whose responsibility is it for optimum waste management? What about reducing and reusing first? What’s the payback?

Whose responsibility is it? The local and federal government? Businesses and organizations? Us? The answer is obviously everyone and every organization.

Everyone’s Business

One day many years ago, as a young, foreign mother living in Japan, I was surprised to hear a knock at my door. Being the only gaijin (non-Japanese) living in the neighborhood, I didn’t get many visitors.

It was an older Japanese woman from down the street, holding the bag of trash I had put out earlier that morning — open, nonetheless. She quickly informed me that I had included one nonrecyclable item in a bag of recyclables. I might add that I am a fanatic about recycling and have always been very careful about separating the trash according to Japan’s meticulous rules.

I was certain that it must have been one of my sweet little girls who made the mistake. No matter, as this woman was sure to teach the unknowing, blonde gaijin a lesson. I was mortified and couldn’t believe that she went through my garbage. But now years later, I understand that Japan looks at recycling as yet another collective social responsibility and necessity.

Japan is relatively small and has limited space for landfills. Therefore, waste management is taken very seriously by the federal and local governments. Trash is carefully divided and every household adheres to a monthly waste collection calendar, explaining what recyclables are picked up on what day and all the detailed ways that items are to be cleaned, packed and prepared.

In public places, recycle bins are everywhere; however, general garbage cans are very hard to find. This is a subtle disincentive that leads people to be more mindful about how much nonrecyclable trash they will create throughout the day. Many carry their trash around all day, sometimes until arriving back home.

On the Homefront

The United States, with only 5 percent of global population, generates more than 30 percent of the world’s trash. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans generate 4.38 pounds per person, per day. While our recycling and composting rate has slowly gone up over the last three decades to nearly 35 percent, our garbage production has doubled.

Fortunately, several hotels and businesses in Southern Nevada understand the economic advantage to careful waste disposal. Many businesses have diligent recycling programs as well as innovative recycling ideas such as recycling cooking oil for biofuel, food waste for livestock feed and wine corks for shoe soles.

Individual Nevadans, however, are lagging behind the nation’s recycling average of 35 percent. Many states have achieved much higher rates. More than two decades ago, California passed legislation to increase its rate to 50 percent, with the city of San Francisco achieving over 75 percent.

In that same amount of time, Nevadans have barely reached the goal of 25 percent. That means that we discard into landfills 75 percent of our trash that could be recycled.

Southern Nevada has the nation’s largest landfill, Apex (located 20 miles north of Las Vegas). By the end of this year, we will also be home to the nation’s largest recycling plant, Southern Nevada Recycling Complex. This plant will hold multiple single-stream sorting machines, which does away with the need to separate recyclables.

All we need to do is put recyclables into a recycle bin. They have made it that simple.

Before Recycling

So what about reducing and reusing, the two words carefully placed before the clever alliteration of reduce, reuse, recycle?

Reducing our consumption is the most important (next to a plant-based diet), simplest first step we can do to conserve water, energy, our precious limited resources and our home, planet Earth, not to mention our pocketbooks. Instead of buying a bottle or two of water a day, use a thermos. Instead of unhealthy fast food with all its wrappings, prepare a healthy lunch ahead of time in a reusable container.

Reusing something or passing it on to someone who will reuse it is the second best choice. Americans throw away nearly 11 million tons of clothing and footwear annually. Why not wear what we have or find new owners for what we don’t fancy anymore. It keeps stuff out of the landfills and saves resources.

Recycling is the last choice. Think about it: Seventy percent of our plastic bottles and 50 percent of our aluminum cans are trashed, not recycled. How hard could it be to bump these numbers up?

What’s the Payback?

The benefits of reducing, reusing and recycling are plenty. Contributing to the welfare of others and our living environment in a responsible manner seems like a sufficient payback. Other benefits, however, include being an important example for others, making healthier food choices and saving money.

While you are at it, why not go a step further and get some added cash? Cans, plastics and glass can be sold at SA Recycling, with several locations in Southern Nevada. A fun family outing once a month can bring you cash for your cans.

Making Lemonade

On my daily walk to work in Tokyo, I pass homeless people who have set up their living spaces in nooks and crannies sheltered from the elements. One day I found myself walking alongside a man who was hauling several large bags of aluminum cans to a nearby collection site.

I asked the man in my most polite Japanese what a bag like that would bring him. He told me around $10 a bag and that it usually took a day to collect four bags’ worth.

“But I have other jobs, you know, so it takes me a little longer,” he said.

What will it Take?

Collecting and separating waste is something most of us don’t want to think about but we are in fact the producers of that waste. The consequences to our consumption addiction are depleting our precious water supply and resources, as well as increasing carbon emissions and pollution.

Nobody wants to be told what to do in their private lives. That’s how I felt when a stranger went through my trash. That is an extreme for sure. But what will it take to make the necessary changes in our consumption habits and disposal practices? Now is the time for us to recommit to recycling.

Mary Beth Horiai has split her adult life between Japan and Southern Nevada. In Las Vegas, Horiai worked for the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council of Nevada. A graduate of UNLV, she was trained as a speaker for The Climate Reality Project.