The Bagster by Waste Management-Does it promote the right message?

Have you seen ads for the Bagster by Waste Management.

It is a large polypropylene bag that can be purchased from the company or home centers for you to use at a residential job site to save you money and hassle on hiring out a large metal dump. You arrange for pickup from Waste Management and they haul the filled Bagster to the dump for you.

The company website says:
“The Bagster^® bag is available in one size only. It can hold 3 cubic yards/606 gallons of debris and is strong enough to hold up to 3300 lb. The bag is 8′ long by 4′ wide by 2’6″ tall, big enough to hold full sheets of plywood or sheetrock.”

The problem I see with this is that it makes waste collection TOO convenient!

Revisiting the old adage that America is a disposable society seems to be magnified by this service.

To quell voter unrest and perhaps strengthen health and safety, Governments promote disposal of waste in the US largely in gigantic landfills often at the edge of counties. The administration of these landfills has made some companies, Waste Management being one, horribly wealthy.

Most Americans think little about what they put out to be picked up by the trash hauler and this Bagster will only perpetuate that problem.

There should be a strong incentive or perhaps disincentive via costing methods to empower the homeowner to throw out only what is absolutely necessary. If all those with a bit of space in their yard would compost then organic food wastes could be cut in half. Paper and glass/aluminum waste can be recycled.

But building material waste is still a bit of a wild card.What happens to the contents of the Bagster when it arrives at the dump.
The company site says:
“For safety reasons, the Bagster^® bag is a single-use product and CANNOT be used more than one time. Your Bagster^® bag will NOT be returned after it has been collected. Your Bagster^® bag and all of its contents will be disposed of at the time of collection.”
also
“Waste Management* safely disposes of all debris at licensed disposal facilities. We are committed to the responsible disposal of all debris”

Waste Management is a smart company and often portrays itself as a Green company(look at their logo) but this Bagster will continue to teach the American consumer that once the trash leaves their premises, their work is done.

Really the American consumer’s work should be done only when either it generates no trash at all or that the trash it sends out can be as much as 80% recycled into other consumer or building products.

This may be a good initiative for the Libertarians to champion since it takes the government(and their facilitators such as Waste Management) out of people’s lives and makes people responsible for their own waste. That’s Liberty to the max!

PM for Conservastore