Green Jersey

Trash a good indicator of economy

For the second year in a row, the amount trash generated in the U.S. has gone down.

This trend, in a Philadelphia Inquirer story yesterday, indicates our economy is lousy — and, it seems, changing people’s consumption habits. In the story, a consulting firm said the decline in 2007, from 513 million tons of garbage to 508 million tons, was the first decline in more than 20 years. In 2008, the total was 505 million tons. (Counts were taken before recycling.)

But whether Americans will stick to this newfound thriftiness remains to be seen, according to Daniel T. Cook, a sociologist at Rutgers-Camden. “The question is, of course, to what extent is this permanent?” he told the Inquirer. “Have people reevaluated something, or are they waiting for their particular world to pick up?”