Introduction
The book that is being reviewed in this essay is titled ‘Rubbish! The Archeology of Garbage.’ The authors of this book are William Rathje and Cullen Murphy. William Laurens Rathaje is an American archeologist and was formerly an anthropology professor at the University of Arizona. 1945-2012. Rubbish! The Archeology of Garbage, 1992, 263 pp. / 6.00 in x 9.00 in / 2001. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.
Cullen Murphy, 1952, Rubbish! The Archeology of Garbage. Managing Editor, Atlantic.
Summary
The book opens with the following introduction:
"On a crisp October morning not long ago the sun ascended above the Atlantic Ocean and turned its gaze on a team of young researchers as they swarmed over what may be the largest archaeological site in the world. Its mass, estimated at 2.9 billion cubic feet, . And it is known to be a treasure trove-a Pompeii, a Tikal, most advanced civilization the planet has ever seen."
The above rhapsodic introduction is itself a classic example of the expressiveness, humor and causticness that the authors bring to their learning of the two decade old Garbage Project of the University of Arizona, which has made insightful detections by sifting through the massive load of stuff the entire United States spews out in the form of garbage.
A highly interesting read, highly acclaimed, and often quoted book – ‘Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage,’ written by William Rathje and Cullen Murphy, an archaeologist and a journalist respectively, is an astounding and also an alarming discovery about the way in which garbage portrays our society. It is based on the 1973 archelogy project on garbage that was an exercise for the students of the University of Arizona Tucson. A small group of anthropologists from the University of Arizona were conducting a sequence of methodical archeological digs since 1973. As part of this project they were actually meticulously scrutinizing, categorizing and documenting the contents of approximately 14 -16 tons of material that was excavated. The location where their investigations were conducted, however, was not any ancient graveyard or primeval colonies, but were rather urban landfills. Precisely, garbage dumps of contemporary cities.
The inferences and discoveries of the above project have been documented in an excellent manner in this book. This book, regardless of its sensational expletive theme, is neither a criticism on the environmental hazards of a casual society nor a whimsical account of the garbage that was investigated. It can be portrayed as a work that is highly eloquent and provocative work, which drives absolute self-righteousness while also taking an ironic aim at the numerous sacred cows in the course.
It is actually very interesting to know that the trash we generate can depict a detailed demeanor of the human life and civic society. For instance, in times of product scarcity, our garbage portrays how the same product which is scare is wasted excessively by us. Another significant discovery made by Dr. Rathje and his team is regarding our landfills that are consuming roughly about1% of the total mass is not because of disposable diapers as it is commonly believed.
It has been stated that the study of garbage, in reality, divulges a vast amount of information pertaining to the size of the population, demographic information like age, traditional disparities as well as purchasing habits. However, the biggest astonishment is that the supposed garbage calamity is in reality, a collation of extensively unchallenged myths.
The most important among such myths is that things like fast-food packaging and the foam, both the general as well as the one that is filled inside disposable diapers, essentially constitute more than 70 % of the substances of the common landfill, and this has been documented in a number of surveys. However, the reality on the other hand is that fast-food packaging constitutes no more than 1/3rd of 1% in terms of volume, and foam for just 1% of total matter in a typical landfill. Disposable diapers, the most common monster amongst several things, claim an entire chapter for their own, in turn, massively dismissing all human fears.
Review
The whole book, which is predominantly a documentation of the findings of the archeology project, has actually got an impressive and fascinating premise. "That what people have owned -- and thrown away -- can speak more eloquently, informatively, and truthfully about the lives they lead than they themselves ever may." The very idea that garbage is an extremely beneficial source of cultural evidence about the past is barely innovative; as such, landfills, the sites of several archeological investigations, are basically heaps of rubbing under a disguised title, and the earthenware that are placed in many museums are nothing but ancient garbage. Yet, the moot question is whether we can really learn anything valuable and worthy about the contemporary world by investigating its rubbish?
The book is more of a discourse by the authors regarding the complex approach of exploring rubbish, the history of collecting and disposing the same, as well as also about the dynamics and composition of the landfills. The findings of the project reveals that the proportion of human beings to garbage has been steady and stable for many centuries now, and that the fright regarding disposable diapers as well as fast-food packaging is actually an exaggeration.
As highlighted by the authors, garbage has been a persistent aspect in the human society, and most of the time a massive pile of it being present. It has been quoted in the book that a “street level of the ancient city of Troy rose almost five feet per century as a result of debris accumulation. Present-day street levels on the island of Manhattan are typically 6 to 15 feet higher than they were in the 17th century; it wasn't until 1895 that the city undertook systematic garbage removal .”
It is explained by the authors that these are actually highly minimal in terms of the volume of landfills when compared to other material like paper and potato peels, which make up a major portion of the landfill volume.
The book also reveals alarming facts, which eventually ruin the idealistic conceptions about biodegradation. According to the authors, organic matter has a tendency to "mummify" in the landfills instead of breaking down into smaller pieces. The authors expose the causticness of human ignorance, while also highlighting the psychological and political viewpoints held about rubbish and about what is really perilous and what is recyclable today.
The per capita generation of garbage by the Americans has been extraordinarily consistent over the last century, as currently, there is more of substances like paper and plastic that comprise today’s garbage, while the quantum of coal ash and horse manure has declined considerably.
Similarly, in contrast to the widespread perception, Americans are not the people to produce more garbage than anybody else in the world. A comparative study of many American cities as well as Mexico City revealed that, regardless of the American households generating excessive amount of packaging waste, they generated one third less garbage on an average, when compared to their Mexican counterparts, whose fresh and unpackaged food yielded much more waste.
Yet, America is surely facing a garbage catastrophe, as claimed by the authors in this book. If plastic rubbish is considerably lesser that what is anticipated, the extent of paper, which constitutes 40 % of the overall and growing garbage, irrespective of the positive aspirations of a paperless PC revolution. Although the per capita garbage disposal is continuing at a constant rate today, there are several citizens who are generating more garbage than in the past.
Rathaje is a professor in anthropology and is also an archeologist. Apart from being the professor emeritus in the anthropology department of the University of Arizona, he was also a consulting professor on the same subject at the Stanford University. The Tucson Garbage project was conducted under his directorship and he presents his personal experience of his research in this book.
Murphy is a famous American writer and editor and was also popular for his exceptional service as the managing editor, Atlantic and he used this experience in helping with the above book.
Personal Opinion
I personally feel that this book is a really interesting and informative one, which reveals vast amount of information about how garbage can help trace the culture and demographics of a society, while also clarifying a lot of myths that are held about gargabe. If there continues to exist massive space for landfills, then the rules for positioning them too have become highly stringent, and people today are averse to having garbage dumps in their courtyards or porches. In addition, in contrast to the hopes of traditionalists, even organic waste fails to decay in the landfills and it rather shrivels within. Eventually, this gives rise to the question as to what the final outcome of decomposition would yield to the water systems beneath the surface.
References
Rybczynski, W. (1992, July 05). We are What We Throw Away. The New York Times. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/05/books/we-are-what-we-throw-away.html
William L. Rathje, C. M. (2001). Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
