Tons Of Trash

I was reading a story on CNN about the National Mall. CNN reported that the Mall was a shambles. The seawall by the Jefferson Memorial was falling apart, the World War I Memorial was in desperate need of renewal, and the whole Mall was looking down and out.

The reporter mentioned problems I have been aware since I was a small boy visiting with my parents ... there are no bathrooms any where to be found near the Mall! Kids needing to go are out of luck! Also, finding a place to park your car near the Mall is almost impossible. It really is easier to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

But one statistic really stuck with me. In a normal day, visitors to the Mall generate three to four tons of trash! That is three to four TONS OF TRASH ... 6,000 to 8,000 POUNDS OF TRASH ON THE NATIONAL MALL EACH AND EVERY DAY!!! At first I was certain this could not be correct. Then I figured that Americans were just pigs and that all our products were simply over packaged. But finally I remembered all my trips to the Mall ... a drink here, a sandwich there ... not really all that much over packaging as I recall.

Time for the calculator. If the CNN report is correct, there are about 25 million visitors to the National Mall each year. That breaks down to an average of 68, 493 visitors each day. If there are 3 tons (6,000 pounds) of trash left on the Mall each day, then each daily visitor must leave 0.09 pounds of trash behind. Nine one hundredths of a pound is about one soft drink can or one ice cream paper wrapper. Sounds quite reasonable to me. But my oh my, how it does add up! Three tons in one day! I wonder where the maintenance folks put it all? Are we making a new island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay? Hmmm. 3 to 4 tons a day = 1,095 to 1,460 TONS A YEAR!!! And that goes on year after year after year!!! Just from the National Mall.

Eons from now, I wonder what archaeologists will make of America as they excavate our landfills? How will they interpret our society from our trash heaps? I worked on the excavation of 1700's Great Britain's General Cornwallis's camp in Camden SC. We dug up lots of oyster shells and wine bottles. From that we deduced they liked wine and oysters! (weren't we smart!) What will the future Einsteins tell about us?