The unwanted remnants of our daily life usually end up in the garbage. The contents of the garbage can help in determining the culture of a certain individual or group of people. Garbage can also help understand the culture and behavior of the past inhabitants (Davies 34). The eating culture of an individual can also be determined with the content of his or her garbage. Archeologists also use the content of the garbage to tell certain traits of the past generation. The main setting of this garbage study will be at home and in specific the kitchen area. Kitchen is one of the fundamental parts of the house setting. In the kitchen, there are certain wastes that can be found. The contents of the kitchen garbage include packet of cigarette, plastic bags, water bottles, Boston market cup just to mention a few.
The above-mentioned garbage content has a relationship with the way of living. The waste usually tells what we tell ourselves and what we tell other people concerning what we do. Comparing the result of the survey on the food consumption and the content o the garbage, there is a discovery of a phenomenon known as a Lean Cuisine syndrome. It is common with human beings. It is whereby they underreport on the amount of junk food that they consume but they over report on fruits and diet soda that they consume (Foote and Elizabeth 13). Another syndrome that is determined by the content of the household garbage is the good provider syndrome. In the syndrome human beings have the tendency of claiming to have bought and consumed certain type of foods or drinks but in the real sense it is not true.
There is a big relationship between culture and the waste product. The family size also helps in determining the content of the garbage of that family. In a family that there are many youths, the content of the garbage will be very different with the family that is made up of elderly people (Davies 43). The elderly people most of them are under certain medication and therefore they are advised to take certain types of food. The garbage of a family made up of the elderly is mostly comprised of food-related wastes. There is also likelihood of finding alcohol-related wastes in the content of the garbage of the elderly.
The garbage of the youths has various contents, which will determine the way of their lives. They use different types of materials daily therefore making the content of their garbage very different from that of the elderly people. There is likelihood that most of the time they consume junk foods as they are readily available and ready for consumption (Foote and Elizabeth 32). There is a probability that most of them are into taking alcohol and other related substances. Smoking is also part of the way some of them live. This is evident with the amount of packets of cigarettes found in their litter bins. The eating culture that most youths have adopted helps in determining their way of living and the food they eat also aid in understanding that aspect.
The content of garbage can also determine the social class in the society. It is a fact that there are two types of people in the society; the rich and the poor. The distinction is brought about by their way of living and their perception about life (Davies 49). The lower class people cannot afford some items in lives and it determines the way they utilize the available resources. They reuse and recycle most of the items that they use so that they can minimize cost and expenditure. They also can afford certain types of food therefore; they restrict themselves to simple and healthy way of living. They are also careful with the way they handle some of their properties so that they avoid damages. It is hard or rare to find the content of the garbage of lower class person to contain broken household materials.
On the other hand, the upper-class people are very different in terms of the content. Most of them are living a very expensive and extravagant type of life. The food they eat is much different and therefore the garbage content is usually made of different materials (Foote and Elizabeth 23). They have the financial muscles to buy whatever they want and therefore in case of any breakage, the likelihood of them replacing them is very high. The food they eat is usually quite expensive. Most of them usually have poor eating habit whereby most of the food usually goes to waste. They buy a lot of food that they do not consume fully and in the end most of them end up in the waste bin.
It is good to keep the environment that we live in very clean. This can be done by the way we do certain things in life. Keep the environment clean is the responsibility of each and every member of the society irrespective of their social class or status (Davies 98). Global warming is one of the challenges that the environment is facing. Mostly is brought about by the things we release to the environment as waste products. However little the waste might be, it has a role that it can play in the degradation of the environment- if it is not properly disposed. Recycling and reusing of most of the products will help minimize the amount of waste that is disposed to the environment.
It is the responsibility of every individual to take care of his or her health. Keeping a healthy eating habit has a role that it plays in ensuring that we remain healthy. It is advisable that we buy food that we are able to consume at given time rather than buying the food in bulk; that in the end will go to waste (Foote and Elizabeth 67). This will help reduce the amount of waste. It is god to have a balanced diet daily as this will help in ensuring that the body remains strong and hence be in a position to handle certain health related diseases.
Archeologists use the content of the garbage to determine the characteristics of the different individuals. Therefore, it is important to note that one cannot lie about the lifestyle since the garbage can tell it all about the way we live. The garbage also tells the social and economic class of the people in the society (Davies 56); moreover, the content of the garbage can tell the habits and cultural trends of various people in the society by just looking at what they dispose. Healthy living is the way to go, it is the responsibility each, and everyone to ensure that there is a green environment.
In essence garbage content reflects the general preference of a particular group of people in the society. Critical analysis of the garbage content has since developed into the mainstream of archeological studies; recent research has evidently shown the bad eating habits that characterize a vast population of the American residents. From the research, most Americans have been associated with junk food that tend to affect their livelihood hence the increased cases of lifestyle diseases and other chronic illnesses. This has been evidently displayed from the content obtained from garbage collection. It directly reflects what the population is consuming.
This field of study has since grown in stature as more scientists and academicians take extensive research analysis on archeology to study these trends in the society.
Work cited
Davies, Anna. The geographies of garbage governance interventions, interactions, and outcomes. Aldershot, Hampshire, England Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008. Print.
Foote, Stephanie, and Elizabeth Mazzolini. Histories of the dustheap waste, material cultures, social justice. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2012. Print.
