Foreword
I've never liked garbage. It smells, it's messy, and it was my job to collect it every week from around the house. Thursday nights I'd have to run around the house at 11 o'clock and dump everyone's trash into a paper bag, then drag the bulging cans out to the corner. For a 10 year old, this was a huge hassle. And although I knew it was my parent's fault that I had to do it, I blamed the garbage for wasting my time. It was its fault that I had to get back out of bed because I forgot to collect it. Garbage was to blame for the fact that I lost those precious 10 minutes of my life every week!
But it was Friday mornings that were always the worst. Not only was school awaiting my arrival when I'd rather just lie in bed, but I always got one less hour of sleep. It was on account of the garbage men. They would come down the street, their truck groaning and grinding horrendously, forcing me from my slumber. It was as if they had made it their goal to stop in front of my house and make as much noise as possible, just to spite me.
I hated garbage with a passion.
Now that I am older, I still dislike garbage. It still smells, it's still messy, and it's still my job to collect it. But it's become more than just a pet peeve to me. It's become a point of interest. The world's changed since I was younger, and the threat of global warming has become frighteningly real. The amount of garbage and waste has always bothered me, and now it's an even bigger problem than before (if that's even possible)! And the quantity of renewable resources wasted is just a small portion of the issue. Because resources are wasted, more energy and resources are required to replace what could have been recycled. Not only that, but energy and resources must be spent to get rid of what could be recycled or reused.
Coming from a strong environmentalist family, it's easy to see why garbage became a point of interest for me. My initial intentions for this project were to learn about the problems that garbage causes and what we do that prevents/contributes to them. As my research expanded, however, I became more and more interested in just the process and people associated with garbage. It's such a huge part of our society, and yet no one really seems to know much about it. I wanted to learn more, starting with what happens to the garbage after the city comes and collects it.
Every week they come and take away your garbage, and you never see it again. But what happens to it? It doesn't magically disappear. The trucks have to take it somewhere. So where does it go?