Where Is "Away"?

Till I was fourteen, we didn't have a dustbin/trashcan at home. There were none at any of neighbours' places, none at school and none at any public place. Not because we were all poor and not able to afford them. It was because our lifestyles then didn't need any. We of course did produce "waste", but most of it was bio-degradable -- kitchen waste, house sweepings, paper wrappers, worn-out clothes etc. These were tossed out into the yard without much thought. And they all became a part of the soil life around us. All of the monthly grocery came wrapped in newspaper from the neighbourhood store.  Snacks were all home made. Grains were processed at home. We carried our bags when we went to shop. There was also occasional non-biodegradable waste such as light bulbs, medicine bottles, aluminum foil from the pill strips. This was also tossed out; there was so little of this waste that it didn't matter.

This was the case until 1988, not that long ago. But when I reminisce about these plastic-free days and talk about to it young people, they find it absolutely unbelievable. When plastic entered our everyday lives, garbage started getting generated. I saw people who were living zero-waste lives switch over to use-and-throw lifestyle without even noticing the change that had come about in their lives. Now pretty much everyone, in every corner of the world, throws away the garbage that they produce. But, where is this "away"?

Irrespective of where we live, there must be at least one dump yard close to us. The size of these dump yards (or landfills) are growing in most places that can't afford incinerators. Burning garbage is not anyway a great solution, because of the greenhouse gases that are emitted. When we moved to Athimanjeri in 2013 there was no dump yard here. Now we have a whopping 10000 cubic feet of garbage that is being constantly burnt. This dump yard used to be agricultural land; it was also providing food and shelter to animals; it has now been rendered utterly useless, dead and toxic. Now consider this happening at a much larger scale in populous cities. For example, there is a garbage mountain looming in the outskirts of Delhi in Ghazipur. This will soon be taller than the Taj Mahal, which is also man-made.

Ghazipur dump on the left and the Taj on the right
Courtesy: The Guardian

What about garbage that floats away or gets dumped into the oceans? Well, there is indeed a massive floating garbage called "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch". It covers an approximate surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers – an area three times the size of France!!  Here is a recent video of this.

A 2012 report states that this patch has increased 100-fold since 1970's. And since 2012 it has doubled.  We don't really need experts to give us data regarding garbage. All we need to do is look keenly around us; at all the options that have come up as norms (like plastic water bottles, plastic bags). The garbage we produce will be here for ages to come. The bitter truth is that we have enjoyed a relatively-decent planet and are leaving behind a trashy planet for our children. 

Now, please pause to let this truth sink in. There is a desperate need for us to empathize with the future generations. 

There is no "away". 

-- Hema