Preston’s Plea

If you don’t know how the Raleigh trash system works, when your trash is collected by the big truck, before it goes to the landfill, it goes to a transfer station. The transfer station is a very large, open concrete structure where city and county trucks back in and push out all of there trash. It comes out like a tu… nevermind. But once dumped on the ground inside of this large structure, big machines with scoopers on the front, push it down a hole and it falls into a big rig. The big rig then hauls it to the landfill in Holly Springs. You can spot the trucks headed to the landfill if you know what to look for. (look for trash flying out the top 🫤)

But they have a good system of keeping things moving. Trucks dump your trash and the loader push in down the hole, and the big rig to hauls it off. Occasionally it will get backed up and some piles of trash will sit on the platform waiting for the next truck to be filled.

But what I witnessed on December 29th, post Christmas, was insane. Imagine 4, 2-story homes side by side, filled with trash. From the front door to the back. Ground level to attic. And these are big cribs I want you to imagine. So full that you could not pull in to dump, but instead did it from outside of the structure. And in addition to the houses, imagine 8-10, LARGE LONG RVs, out front of these homes. Also filled with trash. Just sitting because so much trash was produced that there aren’t enough drivers and big rigs to keep up with what the city and county trucks are bringing in.

Even in doing the work that we’ve done the last 3 years, this was eye opening. We produce to much waste. Like, WAY TOO MUCH WASTE. You may have heard the cliche, what gets thrown away doesnt go away. IT DOESN’T. Sometimes, its so much, that it doesn’t even just sit in the landfill. It instead sits in SE Raleigh in 9 trucks the size of RVs and a concrete structure the size of 4 large homes.

I readily acknowledge that the issues around our climate and environment are primarily caused by factors much larger than we can control. And that more sustainable alternatives should be driven by the corporations and not have to be sought out by you and I. But I think we might have some control over how much trash we produce so that we don’t have tons and tons just sitting on New Bern Avenue because the system can’t move fast enough to get it where it needs to be.

There are options to avoid plastic and other non recyclable items. There are steps to take to reduce our landfill impact. You can reuse EVERYTHING POSSIBLE, even if its not “Instagram pretty”. You can compost at home. I do it, trust me, its not that hard. But bigger than that, you can make the decision on what you’re buying and bringing into your home which at some point, will likely leave your home as waste.

I don’t have all the answers but I have some. And I will be better about sharing what I know whilst learning more so that I can share that to. And using whilst in more sentences. These 2 things I promise you.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest,

Preston