It's hard to believe that each one of us throws away over seven pounds of trash every day, adding up to about 102 tons over a lifetime. In part, that's because we're used to having our garbage whisked away while we sleep, waking to an empty barrel and a license to buy some more.
While many are finding ways to alter the way we consume, maybe buying in bulk, or items with less packaging, we still throw away enough stuff to make trash America's biggest export. And, do we ever stop to think about the people who whisk away our garbage? As it turns out, most of us don't.
Today, we talk to a garbologist, and other sanitation experts, on the value of our garbage. Please leave your comments below, send us an email at colin@wnpr.org, or tweet us @wnprcolin.
Guests:
- Michael Paine is the president of Paine's Recycling and Rubbish Removal
- Ed Humes is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 12 books, including Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash, and the soon-to-be released A Man and His Mountain, a story about Jess Stonestreet Jackson, the founder of Kendall-Jackson Wines
- Professor Robin Nagle is the Director of the Department of Anthropology at NYU and the author of several books, most recently, Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City.
