A Tell-Tale Economic Indicator: Trash!

When Garbage Collectors Take In Less Refuse Than Before, That's A Sign We're Holding Onto Our Stuff Longer

(CBS)  Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

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Well, as you just heard this morning, we do need a little good news.

And I actually think I’ve found some - or at least The Washington Post has.

Remember how we’ve been hearing for years that we’re all drowning in our own trash?

Well, we’re not anymore! At least, we’re holding our own because, yes (if you can call it that), there is one teeny upside to bad times.

It’s because we can’t afford to buy as much as we used to, we’re not throwing away as much as we used to.

Post reporter Brigid Schulte reports that waste management officials around here are starting to notice trash dumped at local landfills is down as much as thirty percent.

The trash man is the first to know about a recession, one official told the newspaper. When people stop buying those big boxes, they stop throwing away all that styrofoam and shrink wrap.

The other part is, we’re apparently rethinking now how we deal with our possessions. We’re repairing more instead of discarding things like power tools and cell phones - one reason why stores that sell batteries are among the few doing a booming business these days.

Here is my hope: The trash decline can’t last forever. So, once the economy gets going again, maybe someone can figure out how to sell things without enclosing them in those airtight titanium-strong plastic wrappers.

Then we wouldn’t have to throw those things away, and I wouldn’t have to risk ruining my teeth trying to bite them off.