愛薇塔樂學英文

　　Garbage In，Garbage Out 　　There are many ways of obtaining an understanding of people's behaviou

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　　Garbage In，Garbage Out

　　There are many ways of obtaining an understanding of people's behaviour. One of these

　　is to study the objects discarded by a community}objects used in daily lives. The

　　study of the refuse of a society is the basis for the science of archaeology in which

　　the lives and behaviour of past societies are minutely examined. .Some recent studies

　　have indicated the degree to which rubbish is socially defined.

　　For several years the University of Arizona,, USA has been running a Garbage! Project,

　　in which garbage is collected, sorted out and noted. It began in 1973with an

　　arrangement whereby the City of Tucson collected for analysis garbage from randomly

　　selected households in designated census collection districts. Since then the

　　researchers have studied other cities both in the USA and Mexico, refining their

　　techniques and procedures in response to the challenges of validating and

　　understanding the often unexpected results they have obtained. Garbage is sorted

　　according to an extremely detailed schedule, a range of data for each item is recorded

　　on a standardised coding form, and the researchers cross-tabulate their findings

　　with information from census and other social surveys.

　　This Project arose out of courses designed to teach students at the University the

　　principles of archaeological methodology and to sensitise them to the complex and

　　frequently surprising links between cultural assumptions and physical realities.

　　Often a considerable discrepancy exists between what people say they do -or even

　　think they do -and what they actually do. In one Garbage Project study none of the

　　Hispanic (Spanish-speaking)women in the sample admitted to using as much as a single

　　serving of commercially-prepared baby food, clearly reflecting cultural

　　expectations about proper mothering. Yet garbage from the Hispanic households with

　　infants contained just as many baby food containers as garbage from non-Hispanic

　　households with infants.

　　The Project leaders then decided to look not only at what was thrown away, but what

　　happened to it after that. In many counties waste is disposed of in landfills, the

　　rubbish is compacted and buried in the ground. So in 1987,the Project expanded its

　　activities to include the excavation of landaus across the United States Y-and Canada.

　　Surprisingly, no-one had ever attempted such excavations before.

　　The researchers discovered that far from being sites of chemical and biologicalactivity,theinteriorsofwastelandfillsareratherinactive,with the

　　possible exception of those established in swamps. Newspapers buried 20or more years

　　previously usually remained perfectly legible, and a remarkable amount of food

　　wastes of similar age also remained intact.

　　While discarded household products such as paints, pesticides, cleaners and

　　cosmetics result in a fair amount of hazardous substances being contained in

　　fear, provided that a landfills properly sited and constructed. Garbage projected

　　researchers have found that the leadut6donotmigratefar,and tend to get absorbed by

　　the other materials in the immediate surrounds.'

　　The composition of landfills is also strikingly different from what is

　　commonly believed. In a 1990 US survey people were asked whether particular

　　items were a major cause of garbage problems. Disposable nappies (baby

　　diapers) were identified as a major cause by41per cent of the survey

　　respondents, plastic bottles a by 29 per cent, all forms of paper by six

　　per cent, and construction debris by zero per cent. Yet Garbage Project

　　data shows that disposable nappies make up less than two per cent of the

　　volume of landfills and plastic bottles less than one per cent. On the other

　　hand, over 40 per cent of the volume of landfills is composed of paper and

　　around 12 per cent is construction debris.

　　Packaging —— the paper and plastic wrapping around goods bought —— has

　　also been seen as a serious cause of pollution. But while some packaging

　　is excessive, the Garbage Project researchers note that most

　　manufacturers use as little as possible, because less is cheaper. They

　　also point out that modem product packaging frequently functions reduce

　　the overall size of the solid-waste stream.

　　This apparent paradox is illustrated by the results of a comparison

　　of garbage from a large and socially diverse sample of homeholds in

　　Mexico City with a similarly large and diverse sample m three United

　　States cities. Even after correcting for differences in family size,

　　US households generated far less garbage than the Mexican ones. Became

　　they are much more dependent on processed and packaged foods than

　　Mexican households, US homeholds produce much less food debris.(And

　　most of the leaves, husks, etc. that the US processor has removed from

　　the food can be used in the manufacture of other products, rather than

　　entering the waste steam as is the likely fate with fresh produce

　　purchased by households.)

　　One criticism made of Western societies is that the people are wasteful

　　and throw things away while they are still useable. This, however, does

　　not seem to be true. Garbage Project data showed that furniture and

　　consumer appliances were entering the solid waste stream at a rate very

　　much less than would be expected from production and service-life

　　figures. So the researchers set up a study to track the fate of such

　　item and thus gained an insight into the huge informal and commercial

　　trade in used goods that rarely turns up in official calculations and

　　statistics.

　　The Garbage Project's work shows how many misconceptions exist about

　　garbage. The researchers are therefore critical of attempts to promote

　　one type of waste management, such as source reduction or recycling,

　　over others, such as incineration or landfilling. Each has its

　　advantages and disadvantages, and what may be appropriate for one

　　locality may not be appropriate for another.

　　Glossary: Leachate: water carrying impurities which has filtered

　　through the soil

　　The Garbage Project

　　started in 1973

　　first studied garbage in the city of (29) since then has studied it in other cities in USA and (30)

　　method: garbage collected and sorted, the information noted on (31)

　　finding compared with (32) and other social surveys.

　　reason for Project show students the (33) of archaeological (34)

　　from 1987 Garbage Project studied (35)in USA and CANADA.

　　Keys:29 Tucson 30 Mexico 31 standardised coding form 32 census

　　33 principles 34 methodology 35 landfills

　　MISCONCEPTIONS 　　　　　　　　　COUNTERARGUMENTS

　　II: Household items, like 　　　　　　A:40% of landfills is paper

　　disposable nappies ,are a 　　　　　 F: disposable nappies make up

　　major cause of garbage 　　　　　　 less than 2% of landfills

　　problems.

　　Counter arguments for Misconception II: A& F

　　MISCONCEPTIONS 　　　　　　　　　COUNTERARGUMENTS

　　III: packaging is wasteful, and 　　　D: processing and packaging

　　cause excess garbage. 　　　　　　　cuts down on other garbage