NIMBY

We discussed how people have no idea where their food comes from in the last article, now I want to discuss if we know where our waste ends up. Clatsop County is often a county that says “No!” to all sorts of stuff. No ship-breaking, no LNG… or it could be more of a No, Not in My Back Yard, aka NIMBY.

By its virtue, consumerism creates waste. There are unusable parts and packaging that needs to be disposed of. However we do not have a dump in Clatsop County so most people never consider what happens to their trash. Do you know where your trash ends up? Yes, WOW (Western Oregon Waste) picks up your trash or maybe you bring your trash to them. Your trash goes to the transfer station in Astoria, but that isn’t the dump. It is simply a weigh station where your trash is collected and then placed in trailers to be carted off to Riverbend Landfill near McMinnville.

So what happens when the land fill is full and somehow it comes to the attention of the trash gods that Clatsop County has lots of rural space for a land fill. I bet all the residents will go nuts. NIMBY!!! But all these years the residents here have thoughtlessly thrown away all their trash without consideration for the community where our trash ends up.

I visit the transfer station twice a year. I have a container that holds my trash and when it is full it is time for me to throw in on the pick-up and head for the the transfer station. I feel guilty imposing my trash on another community twice a year, but I am doing better. I used to go four times a year. My goal is to go only once every two years.

One visit to the transfer station you will often see it is like a smelly version of the Forgotten Works (In Watermelon Sugar). Most of the stuff had real recycling potential, but the lazy tossers couldn’t bother to take the time.

I wonder why people don’t care where the things they purchase come from and where it all goes when we dispose of what is left. Maybe they are better off not knowing about the about the child in Asia working in sweatshops for 12 hours a day. This child may be the same age as their own children who get to sleep 200 thread count sheets. And all that junk they rid themselves end up polluting a community in McMinnville. Just how long do people think this can continue before they end up with bite marks in their own butts? The NIMBY folks have to start realizing that McMinnville is our back yard and the trash is moving closer to their house every day.

The next time you walk into Fred Meyer or any larger store for that matter, stand in the entrance and look at all the future land fill. Shelves stretching out hundreds of feet in all directions filled with future land fill. You may get a sense of it while standing in one of the isles, but gazing at the entire store from the entrance will really drive home the point.

In 2005 the estimated population of Clatsop County was 36,798. In 2005, WOW shipped 36 tons of our trash to McMinnville. That’s nearly one ton of garbage per person…Jesus F-ing Christ! Open your eyes people! Only 8 tons of material was recycled in 2005.

Considering if the average weight of all people living in Clatsop County, adults and children combined were about 150 pounds per person, this would mean that we are each throwing away close to 25 times our own body weight every year.

In closing on an ironic note, if you put the words “land fill” into a search engine you are directed to look for Land Fill at www.shopping.com. Once there you are greeted by all sorts of pillows and bedding and other future land fill items you can purchase now with your Master Card.