Thank you Hadden - this was an excellent read over breakfast! It made me reflect that the faster time goes, and the more we worry about 'saving time and money' the more wasteful we get. On my grandmother's little cow farm in Switzerland, garbage was essentially non-existent: all food waste was composted or given as feed, clothes were endlessly mended until they ended their days as cleaning rags, and most other items were conserved or repurposed. It seems that the more we hurry and add mechanical implements to make or lives easier, the more encumbered with waste we become.
In Switzerland residents have to pay for each garbage bag that is disposed of. The rolls of bags are kept behind the counter along with other valuables (such as cigarettes). This motivates people to reduce their waste as much as possible, as more garbage costs more money. Additionally, residents are allowed to strip excessive packaging and dispose of it at the grocery store garbage. This in turn motivates the stores to urge companies to reduce packaging. This reverse cycle of waste reduction provides a powerful avenue for people to force companies to reduce waste.
Off now to the garden where we just transported three trunk-fulls of free compost from our landfill and getting ready for our trip to Switzerland in June (and looking forward to spending some time in Adelboden).
Thanks Ruth, lovely reflections from your family farm history! I have a theory that small farms are less wasteful than big farms - partly due to 1) the visibility of waste (fewer places to hide it on a small farm and each crop, animal etc is precious (more "visible" to the farmer) and thus less likely to be wasted and 2) as you say, the reduced dependence on mechanical means and activities of speed.
And on the topic of paying for waste disposal, I think this is a great idea and I was going to include it in the essay. The excess packaging rule is cleaver too. My one concern in the UK is that paying for disposal would incentivise people to fly-tip (a prevalent issue over here). But with greater enforcement and incrementally increasing fines for repeat offenders, this could be ameliorated.
Paying for garbage works in Switzerland because it is so tiny and all residents work to uphold a certain cultural cohesion. Thus there is little opportunity to just dump waste without getting noticed by someone and the fines are steep. People are quick to call out actions that go against the rules, a habit of a time long gone in most countries. Paying for waste would never be an option in Canada as there is just too much land and no one would dare to call out an illegal dumper.
We so often flippantly say „oh this is a waste of my time“ - but I am wondering is it though? In my work they are introducing robotics so that our IT/configuration colleagues don’t have to do the repetitive bits of their work any more. From a management perspective any „low skilled repetitiveness“ is therefore defined as waste (of time). But isn’t that what also defines work? That we have repetitive parts that we just have to do? And can we really expect everybody do to only high skilled complex solution oriented work? To me it doesn’t sit right if we classify time spent on work that needs to be done as waste… curious what other people think about when is time spent on something truly „waste“ and when not…
I've been discussing these ideas with my wife. How can we, in practical ways, live more inconveniently in order to be better stewards? Your thoughts on paying more for food from local farmers and things of that sort have played into this conversation.
"live more inconveniently in order to be better stewards"
You hit the nail on the head Derek. We have to accept more inconvenience in our lives if we are to be better stewards. The Fall has meant this is so and the sooner we go along with the inconveniences (all the while seeking to lessen them) rather than constantly pushing back the sooner we will start to live more sustainably.
"However, modern efficiency no longer strives for the total use of resources or limited creation of waste but instead, laser focuses on the maximisation of profit and the maximum saving of time."
Thank you for putting into words, what I've been thinking for a very long time.
I think about this often. Every time I drive by a huge dumpster with chucks of new wood sitting in them, heading to a landfill from a newly built house. Or, an old building that can be repaired, falling apart, or rotting away, unused because the owners want to much rent for them...a new building going up for more rent just down the road. New mineral mine prospects everyday when so much metal can be recycled. All so wasteful. It's in every nation.
Its a curse.
I take great pleasure watching videos of restored pieces, and recycled materials.
I'm not the best at recycling plastics, I admit, but I collect a lot, and reuse wood, and metals on my property. Honestly, the old things or vintage were created better than those today.
We have a disposable mindset in the world system today. It's being reflected in our culture.
It's being reflected in how we care for the elderly, also. Which is very alarming. We need the older generations here right now. We need the old and the vintage...the ancient.
"How many people do we consign to the proverbial rubbish heap because to help them or mend their broken and worn-out lives doesn’t make sense to society or seemingly ‘pays off’ little?"
Thanks for this Hadden. Funny timing: I just read a super-short Wendell essay called "Waste" (https://www.wasterecyclingmag.ca/blog/waste-essay-by-wendell-berry/) in which he first reminds that we are all victims and makers of this problem that you've eloquently spelled out in your post. But then he shares his more profound insight that you and Mayflower2 are touching on here: as we've been made into wasteful consumers, we ourselves (i.e. people) have become "waste" also. That's because, he says, too many, especially the young and old, have no reason or role to contribute to household, neighborhood, community. His conclusion: the trash we see out there is evidence of good work NOT done by people with capable hands that have been made still by our modern mistakes.
Communists societies feel this way, also. If you're not actively slaving for the machines or breeding more slaves, you are useless to these governmental systems. Just a thought. I remember, when communism first started attacking the Sates...again...The older generation...German Americans, etc,. sounded the alarms!
I wish I knew how to change the worlds mindset. The only thing that makes people value what they already have are hard times. If the times get any harder none of us would survive it.
My great-grandmother told me stories of the great depression. Even the toilet paper rolls were reused. Everything was recycled. The old was sacred.
I'm right where I'm suppose to be, but living in the wrong time period.
Learning from previous generations is critically important - the virtues and values they can teach us are invaluable. Frugality is one of these things. They grew up in a time of war and rationing, and also in an age where hyper abundance and mass marketing had not yet arrived. How they coped and still cope now is something we should all sit at their feet and learn.
Thank you Hadden - this was an excellent read over breakfast! It made me reflect that the faster time goes, and the more we worry about 'saving time and money' the more wasteful we get. On my grandmother's little cow farm in Switzerland, garbage was essentially non-existent: all food waste was composted or given as feed, clothes were endlessly mended until they ended their days as cleaning rags, and most other items were conserved or repurposed. It seems that the more we hurry and add mechanical implements to make or lives easier, the more encumbered with waste we become.
In Switzerland residents have to pay for each garbage bag that is disposed of. The rolls of bags are kept behind the counter along with other valuables (such as cigarettes). This motivates people to reduce their waste as much as possible, as more garbage costs more money. Additionally, residents are allowed to strip excessive packaging and dispose of it at the grocery store garbage. This in turn motivates the stores to urge companies to reduce packaging. This reverse cycle of waste reduction provides a powerful avenue for people to force companies to reduce waste.
Off now to the garden where we just transported three trunk-fulls of free compost from our landfill and getting ready for our trip to Switzerland in June (and looking forward to spending some time in Adelboden).
Thanks Ruth, lovely reflections from your family farm history! I have a theory that small farms are less wasteful than big farms - partly due to 1) the visibility of waste (fewer places to hide it on a small farm and each crop, animal etc is precious (more "visible" to the farmer) and thus less likely to be wasted and 2) as you say, the reduced dependence on mechanical means and activities of speed.
And on the topic of paying for waste disposal, I think this is a great idea and I was going to include it in the essay. The excess packaging rule is cleaver too. My one concern in the UK is that paying for disposal would incentivise people to fly-tip (a prevalent issue over here). But with greater enforcement and incrementally increasing fines for repeat offenders, this could be ameliorated.
Paying for garbage works in Switzerland because it is so tiny and all residents work to uphold a certain cultural cohesion. Thus there is little opportunity to just dump waste without getting noticed by someone and the fines are steep. People are quick to call out actions that go against the rules, a habit of a time long gone in most countries. Paying for waste would never be an option in Canada as there is just too much land and no one would dare to call out an illegal dumper.
And enjoy the beauties of Adelboden!
We so often flippantly say „oh this is a waste of my time“ - but I am wondering is it though? In my work they are introducing robotics so that our IT/configuration colleagues don’t have to do the repetitive bits of their work any more. From a management perspective any „low skilled repetitiveness“ is therefore defined as waste (of time). But isn’t that what also defines work? That we have repetitive parts that we just have to do? And can we really expect everybody do to only high skilled complex solution oriented work? To me it doesn’t sit right if we classify time spent on work that needs to be done as waste… curious what other people think about when is time spent on something truly „waste“ and when not…
I've been discussing these ideas with my wife. How can we, in practical ways, live more inconveniently in order to be better stewards? Your thoughts on paying more for food from local farmers and things of that sort have played into this conversation.
Thanks again for another thought provoking essay.
"live more inconveniently in order to be better stewards"
You hit the nail on the head Derek. We have to accept more inconvenience in our lives if we are to be better stewards. The Fall has meant this is so and the sooner we go along with the inconveniences (all the while seeking to lessen them) rather than constantly pushing back the sooner we will start to live more sustainably.
Just on the cusp of turning off my computer for the day - thus I shall print and read it over breakfast. Looking forward to it!
I hope you found it an interesting read Ruth! - and printed out and read over breakfast is just the kind of way I want my essays to be read.
A richly illustrated essay of the old adage "Haste makes waste". Thank you, Hadden!
"However, modern efficiency no longer strives for the total use of resources or limited creation of waste but instead, laser focuses on the maximisation of profit and the maximum saving of time."
Thank you for putting into words, what I've been thinking for a very long time.
My pleasure! When one is aware of this dynamic you begin to see it everywhere.
I think about this often. Every time I drive by a huge dumpster with chucks of new wood sitting in them, heading to a landfill from a newly built house. Or, an old building that can be repaired, falling apart, or rotting away, unused because the owners want to much rent for them...a new building going up for more rent just down the road. New mineral mine prospects everyday when so much metal can be recycled. All so wasteful. It's in every nation.
Its a curse.
I take great pleasure watching videos of restored pieces, and recycled materials.
I'm not the best at recycling plastics, I admit, but I collect a lot, and reuse wood, and metals on my property. Honestly, the old things or vintage were created better than those today.
We have a disposable mindset in the world system today. It's being reflected in our culture.
Nothing is sacred anymore.
It's very sad.
"We have a disposable mindset in the world system today. It's being reflected in our culture."
I couldn't agree with this more - everywhere you look (fast fashion, single-use plastics, job security) we see this dynamic.
It's being reflected in how we care for the elderly, also. Which is very alarming. We need the older generations here right now. We need the old and the vintage...the ancient.
It's our history.
Very much agree. In a previous essay of mine, I make the same point: https://overthefield.substack.com/p/cherishing-what-we-use-again
"How many people do we consign to the proverbial rubbish heap because to help them or mend their broken and worn-out lives doesn’t make sense to society or seemingly ‘pays off’ little?"
Thanks for this Hadden. Funny timing: I just read a super-short Wendell essay called "Waste" (https://www.wasterecyclingmag.ca/blog/waste-essay-by-wendell-berry/) in which he first reminds that we are all victims and makers of this problem that you've eloquently spelled out in your post. But then he shares his more profound insight that you and Mayflower2 are touching on here: as we've been made into wasteful consumers, we ourselves (i.e. people) have become "waste" also. That's because, he says, too many, especially the young and old, have no reason or role to contribute to household, neighborhood, community. His conclusion: the trash we see out there is evidence of good work NOT done by people with capable hands that have been made still by our modern mistakes.
Indeed, I read his essay "Waste" in preparation for this essay too. It is a great, well-argued piece
Thank you for being my Comforting Angel, today.
That was a Beautiful read.
Communists societies feel this way, also. If you're not actively slaving for the machines or breeding more slaves, you are useless to these governmental systems. Just a thought. I remember, when communism first started attacking the Sates...again...The older generation...German Americans, etc,. sounded the alarms!
I wish I knew how to change the worlds mindset. The only thing that makes people value what they already have are hard times. If the times get any harder none of us would survive it.
My great-grandmother told me stories of the great depression. Even the toilet paper rolls were reused. Everything was recycled. The old was sacred.
I'm right where I'm suppose to be, but living in the wrong time period.
Learning from previous generations is critically important - the virtues and values they can teach us are invaluable. Frugality is one of these things. They grew up in a time of war and rationing, and also in an age where hyper abundance and mass marketing had not yet arrived. How they coped and still cope now is something we should all sit at their feet and learn.
And they tend to be great and vivid storytellers.
agreed