What is Garbology?
By K. Cooper
One man's trash is another man's treasure, or so garbologists believe. The science of garbology was created back in the 1970s, when scientists began looking into how long it takes for our refuse to degrade. Since then, the spry science of garbology was born and more individuals are looking into the trash can, thinking, "just what treasures will I find?"
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What is Garbology?[/caption]What is Garbology?
First of all, yes, it is indeed a science. Back in the early 70s, a professor by the name of William Rathje at the University of Arizona decided to look into our trash and investigate the how our trash reflects modern life. From there, the science grew into looking at how long our trash takes to decompose or biodegrade, and what exactly is filling up our landfills. Garbologists sift through acres of refuse, in rank conditions, all in an effort to understand the culture of the population better. Yes, they are looking at our trash to understand us better. What we throw away says a lot about who we are as a people and as a culture, and now it has become so popular that law enforcement is utilizing the scientific means of the garbologists to track illegal activity through discarded waste. We are, in a sense, our own trash, and the garbologists want to know who we are by studying our trash.
Something smell fishy to you? It shouldn't. The average American will produce at least 102 tons of garbage during their lifetime, and that's fertile ground for understanding the dynamics of humanity. Every piece of trash does have a story to tell. It isn't just simply trash. It is your lunch, your sniffles, and your life in plastic bags, and garbologists look through trash cans to account for current trends in humanity.
While this isn't a cultural science, it is a blossoming science which manages to straddle many different scientific fields. Some garbologists focus on the recycling and biodegradable aspects of landfills, while others may focus on what the trash says about us, culturally. It is not a single focused field, but a multifaceted new scientific avenue that scientists and archeologists are using to better understand the world we live in.
The next time you throw something away, take a moment to think: what does this in fact say about me? We can be amateur garbologists by studying the contents of a garbage can, but you may want to just study your own trash or what may be found in public garbage cans. Peeking through your neighbor's garbage on trash day may look a tad suspicious. However, you can learn a lot about a person by the trash they throw out. Any garbologists will attest to that!
K. Cooper is CEO of GreenStar Waste. GreenStar Waste provides commercial and residential dumpster rental services in the metro Atlanta area. With competitive pricing and prompt delivery and pick up, GreenStar Waste can help to keep your project easy to clean up with an Atlanta roll off dumpster rental. Learn more about dumpster rental in Atlanta at http://www.atlantarolloffdumpsters.com/.
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