COLUMN: Think before you throw away

Every five years the State Division of Waste Management requires each county to prepare a projected five-year plan based on how the last five-year plan worked.
I am sure we are all aware of the different problems people faced over the past half of a decade. Jobs lost, plants closed, cut-backs at most levels of our environment.
However, it may come as a surprise, but we have grown in the waste and litter areas of our society. For example, in the United States, we created 250 million tons of what we call Municipal Solid Waste in one year’s time. This included about 14 percent in food scraps, second only to paper in size. Households and restaurants of all types create the scrap pile. Food waste is the number one material sent for disposal, with 97.5 percent of all food scrap discarded.
What does all this mean? First, it is costly to dispose of that type of material due to transportation needs and fees, and the extra care that must be taken at the landfill to eliminate the “yuck” factor in smell and content.
Also, the lack of mandatory food waste composting laws at the state level offer no incentive for a region or community to create a composting center to create a product that would have value, and would eliminate a lot of expense on the general public.
I have used this one area to give an example of where we can save time and money by being more creative in how we deal with the so-called garbage we accumulate. More day-old items can surely go to a homeless center rather than the garbage can. In our present economic dilemma, we need to be aware of the areas we can do something positive with a potential negative.
Think before you throw.