Garbage

One of the first things I noticed when I arrived in Bangladesh is all the people and all the garbage. People are everywhere and their waste is too. A foreigner may see this situation and think "Wow, this is gross. Why don't they dispose of garbage properly here?" I admit I used to feel that way. But where will it go? There's no garbage collection service here, but even if there was it would probably end up being dumped in a river (a lot of it already is) or in a landfill (land is scarce in Bangladesh). A couple days after moving in with my host family I blew my nose with a Bashundhara (Kleenex to you). I asked my boudi where I should dispose of my soiled tissue. She walked over to the window, opened it, and told me to throw it out. So I did, and I still do. I can't yet bring myself to throw plastic out the window but I do toss biodegradable stuff out.

So this made me think a bit. I am certain that the people of Canada produce much more waste than the people of Bangladesh even though we're only a fifth of their population. The problem we have is we don't see it. We toss it in the garbage can, the bag is taken out, given to a sweaty guy in a big truck and dumped somewhere far out of sight and mind. What if our garbage service was cancelled and everyone had to toss all their waste out their windows? If we had to live with our garbage on our lawns and streets, would we use less?