What isn't bought with Green, ends up in Green Bins

North American culture in my opinion is powered by consumerism. Whether it is the jobs we do, the things we eat or the material things we want, they are all related to the consumption of money. We work to gain money to be spent on food, to afford shelter and for whatever we want. We consume to satisfy our individual pleasure whether it is shopping for temporary happiness, eating to feel abundant, or spending money on new gadgets for boasting. Despite the abundance money can provide to the North American society, what we consume comes at a high price. Because we are a culture that relies on consuming for fulfillment, much goods and services must be prepared in excess to meet the demands of consumers. These include the surplus of food, clothes and products so that they are always readily available for purchasers. However most of the time, not everything is consumed which raises the question, where do all the remaining go?

Recently there was an organized fundraising buffet at the Harbour Centre by some colleagues in SFU. The event was planned to feed one hundred thirty people, however, only a total of thirty people attended. Where did all the extra food go? The answer is clear when one looks inside the big green box and sees the bags of warm food spilling out of overstretched garbage bags. All one hundred dishes of food instead of being fed to the hungry down in East Hastings, end up in landfills. One of the event planners speak out, “we only care about the money, not so much the food.” He adds that despite wanting to pack up the excess food for later, he was not allowed to.

At merchandise souvenir stores such as Carlton Cards, an abundance and variety of cards are stocked up each year for the holidays and season occasions. A former sales associate of Carlton Cards Brentwood reflects that large boxes full of cards are thrown out seasonally because room need to be made for new cards. She says that they don’t even recycle them because unwrapping the plastic wrapping takes up the employee’s work time and therefore are thrown into the trash. The company would rather destroy all the products, then to allow others to take for non-commercial purposes.

These two examples show how consumerism is a leading cause of waste and environmental issues. They also prompt the government to raise regulations and limitations on the amount of waste allowed per consumption of goods.