Finding a Place for Garbage

The attempt by the country’s major garbage disposal firms to buy up Indian reservation land for mega-garbage dumps (Part I, Sept. 26) is an obscene illustration of our system of waste. In this latest twist of the “Manhattan Island” syndrome, it should not pass the notice of Los Angeles residents that such far-flung sites for garbage--outside the state or even outside the country--are likely intended as the destination of garbage produced in the Los Angeles basin. It’s an absurd but very possible future for local garbage unless major changes are made in the current “collect and dump” system.

As multibillion-dollar firms such as Waste Management Inc. proceed to bribe Indian tribes for the rights to turn their heritage into toxic pits, a study funded by the state Waste Management Board is laying plans to “rail haul” L.A. basin waste out of the area. If desert communities currently discussed as garbage dumps protest, then the trains will head farther east.

Of course this situation sounds familiar; it recalls the problems of last summer’s garbage barge that attempted to find a destination for New York and New Jersey waste. More than a one-time curiosity, the barge is just the first example of the interregional, even international “garbage wars” that perhaps lie ahead. Some communities are attempting the only real solution to the waste crisis; through aggressive recycling and other alternatives to disposal we can at least delay and minimize the impending crisis.

At best, such alternatives offer the opportunity for citizens to use individual responsibility to eliminate the need for disposal--given a system to make it work.

The Los Angeles Public Works Department has compiled “Recycling ‘88” to recycle and reduce waste by large amounts. With even more aggressive actions, 50% or more waste can be diverted from the need for disposal. However, the current course of developments points out more than ever that one person or one community can’t prevent the impending garbage disposal crisis. Waste elimination must proceed regionally, statewide and throughout our economy.

KELLY T. SMITH

Research Director

California Against Waste

Sacramento