Upside to the downturn: less trash

The Washington Post says that people are buying less, saving more — and throwing a lot less stuff out:

Landfill managers say they knew something was amiss in the economy when they saw trash levels start steadily dropping last year. Now, some are reporting declines as sharp as 30 percent.

“The trash man is the first one to know about a recession because we see it first,” said Richard S. Weber, manager of the Loudoun County landfill. “Circuit City’s closing, so people aren’t going there and buying those big boxes of stuff and throwing away all that Styrofoam and shrink-wrap . . . and whatever they were replacing.”

But then the article gets a little weird, when it veers away from numbers and statistics and tries to make it real to people by “finding someone affected by the trend.” This is formulaic journalism at its worst. Who do they find? A guy who drives 15 minutes — to another town!! — so he can replace the batteries in his electric toothbrush instead of throwing it out, and this woman:

More people are following Cathy Willis’s example. Willis had a trunk of old sweaters and chose to “update” them instead of tossing them, donating them or buying something new. She found Elinor Coleman, an expert “rebuttoner,” and on a recent day the two huddled over a pile of sweaters and scads of vintage buttons to reimagine her wardrobe.

Beware of news stories that use words like “more people” in this context, with nothing to back that assertion up. Because I would be shocked if there were more than a handful of people seeking out an “expert rebuttoner” to stretch a little more life out of their sweaters. And, by and large, they’re probably the types of people who would have done that in the good times (I can get away with unfounded assertions because I’m a blog).

Anyway, the article’s not all bad. They also note that manufacturers are redesigning packaging for lest waste — and that’s something that will pay dividends for the long term. And, some big-city landfills will gain years of extra use before they fill up. That’s a savings right there.

Plus, and the article doesn’t note this, but it’s got to be a good thing to just teach people — and kids — some basic thrift habits.