Hayter for June 1, 2025

“Garbage by any other name is still trash.”

 

            I thought today would be a good time to talk about the history of garbage. The topic came to me the moment Kay entered my study and killed my game of solitaire. I use the game merely to help me think. -- Well, that’s a lie.

During her short visit, Kay asked, “Darling, have you got a topic yet?” From out of the blue came the word, “Garbage.” She understandably had no comeback. I thought she would at least say, “Garbage?”  She merely left the room, leaving me to write an article on trash. 

            I’m ready when you are. Okay, I’ll start with: When I was a kid, we didn’t have that much garbage. Mother considered it a lot, but I currently collect more garbage than our family of nine did back in the ‘60s. Most of the throwaways were cardboard, wood, cans, and Vienna sausages that had gone bad.

Cardboard and wood were not yet considered environmental hazards because they could be turned into smoke and ashes. And to make another point, I don’t think the word “environmental” had been coined yet.

Back then, our neighborhood didn’t smell much trash, because the smell of industrial pollutants pretty much covered it up. We seldom made a big deal about the smell until late spring, when one of us would say, “That’s odd. I don’t smell anything.” The breeze had shifted from north to south, and it would be that way for the next few months. 

As God would have it, with winter approaching, the wind came from the north. The southern refineries were further from our town, so the smoke didn’t bother us that much. But when the wind changed, we were now receiving the pollutants from the refineries at the Ship Channel.

           It was the season for the walls in our bedrooms to turn green from the pollutants. The industries didn’t release their most deadly smoke until nighttime, so the discoloration of the smoke would be less noticeable. Many a morning we woke up to find green walls. I don’t know if Mom cleaned the walls while we were at school, or if the greenness of the walls just faded into the sheetrock.

The pollution was terrible, but the nearby towns needed the refineries to survive. The vast majority of those with jobs worked in the refineries. The Texas Legislature thought it best to quell the State’s few environmentalists.

          Right now, let’s get past air pollution and visit the horror of plastic garbage. The first example of plastic was in the early 1900s. Each decade after that, corporations learned to improve the methods of manufacturing plastics. The word “plastics” is plural because plastic is now made of different chemicals and such. At the moment, the disappearance of plastic in the world would be a major dilemma due to the many purposes for which plastic is used.

But worry not. The manufacture of plastics will outlive us all. When a process to refine plastic was experimented with, it was learned that plastic can only be refined once. That being said, I have no idea what will happen to us if we drink out of a twice-refined plastic bottle. I imagine it will leak, collapse, or meld with our skin. I made up that last one.

The good news is we don’t have to worry about that happening. From what little I know, plastic has been either buried or dumped in the oceans for years. And it will stay in the ground and oceans as long as there is dirt to hide it and ocean waves don’t send it back home. I imagine you’ve seen news stories about plastic bottles, storage containers, and other products covering the beaches. Much of the stuff refuses to sink. 

The U.S. has yet to find an economically feasible way to fly plastic into space. Lately, we’ve been selling it to some Third World nations for them to dispose of. Once again, there are two methods to do that: Put it in the ground or the ocean. The poorer countries have thought of another solution. They keep it above ground. The important thing to note is that it’s not our fault.  It’s theirs now. And third-world leaders are getting rich on us paying them to handle the situation. So many problems, and no feasible solutions. By “feasible,” I mean cheap.

Forgetting all of that, I would now like to bring garbage closer to home by first thanking my garbage collectors. They’re relatively punctual and are so much more professional than the garbage men of my day. Where we now live, a truck with a big garbage can lifter attached grabs hold of my plastic trash drum, pulls it up, and empties it into the bowels of the garbage bin.

Two trucks visit our house every Wednesday. The early one grabs what are known as recyclables, which involve something made of metal, wood, glass, plastic… pretty much any non-food stuff. The question is, can the city actually recycle recyclables? A small percentage?

The vast majority gets taken care of through some of the processes mentioned at the beginning of this garbage lesson. The problem might be that mankind got too good at manufacturing items that make life easier. If only we had developed an interest concerning what to do with plastic items once they’re no longer usable. At least we took care of the auto exhaust issue. – Well, we’re still working on that one… along with several more. 

That’s it! I choose to end now because, like you, I’ve had enough garbage to last me a while. – Right now I have to come up with something a little more pleasant for next week. You think?   

End

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