Thoughts on Waste Reduction and Living Within Our Means

In some ways, it's kind of cool to be Danish!

Even though I have lived in the US of A since 1981, I am — in fact — still a Danish citizen, with a Danish passport. I am a permanent resident of the United States; married to a US Citizen; I pay taxes and social security in the US and, as often as not, think of this country as "home."

At the same time, I also think of Denmark as home, and thoroughly enjoy going back "over there" for summer vacations to just hang out, visit family and so forth.

Although I don't have any formal paperwork to the effect, I do feel very much like a dual citizen.

Anyway, one of the things Mrs. Denmarkguy and I notice every time we spend time in Denmark is that while we're there, we generate a tiny fraction of the volume of garbage and waste we do while we're in the USA.

Now, we're pretty good low waste/no waste citizens here in the US, clocking in at far below the national average of about 1,650 pounds of garbage per person, per year. Since I'm in charge of our dump runs, I can actually tell — down to the nearest 10 lbs — that our household of two (sometimes three) creates a little over 1,500lb of trash for all of us. And yes, we compost quite a lot, too... and re-use what we can.

Mostly where we see the difference between the two places is in the volume of packaging we throw away, which is much higher in the US than Denmark, at least for us.

From simple observation, what seems to cause the difference is that packaging in the USA is designed more for convenience and presentation for the retailer than it is for the convenience of the consumer. And it is certainly not designed with waste minimization in mind.

But sometimes waste is about more than just physical garbage, it's also a mindset.

That holds particularly true with food, which is thrown away in huge quantities. Personally? I am almost offended by the idea of wasting food... I was raised with a "you eat what you HAVE till it is GONE, before you start on something new!"

Sure, we might have chicken on Monday and spaghetti on Tuesday, but then the chicken would come back as part of a salad or sandwiches on Wednesday, and the remains boiled to chicken soup for Thursday.

It always surprises me when I come across people who all but refuse to eat leftovers, particularly when they use a rationalization like "it's OK, we can AFFORD it." To me, that's barely a step removed from the middle ages where "being fat" was a status symbol because it meant you could afford to eat more food than you actually needed.

Waste, for me, isn't a bi-product of whether I can afford something... I always just end up back at WHY would you want to waste things?

It's a bit like the individuals (mostly in the southern US) who convert their trucks to Rolling Coal as a protest against environmental restrictions.

Sure, I understand that they are fighting for their freedom but if we take freedom out of the equation, do you actually want to breathe that stuff? Is that the air quality you like?

Yet, when I lived in Texas I actually knew people who had these very expensive modifications done to their vehicles for no reason other than "no damyankee's gonna tell me how to do my business!"

Waste, for me, is one of those things where sense transcends other forms of "protest." All other things aside, does it make SENSE to waste, when you don't have to?

I think not...

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

How about YOU? What's your opinion about waste? Do you think we generate too much garbage? Or is it just inevitable? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 20210206 00:10 PST
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