I love to burn cardboard.
Such a satisfying byproduct to have go up in flames.
Burns fast, burns hot, and marbles when incinerated.
One day I asked myself why I felt this way. Here’s my answer.
I like to manage my own waste—it’s satisfying. The importance of taking care of your own shit has never been so overlooked in western culture. In the rustication community, the importance of taking care of one’s own dookie comes into the foreground.
Before rusticating: Throw everything out with little discrimination. High consumption lifestyle breeds neverending streams of trash.
After rusticating: Appraise your waste before disposal, disposal being your last resort. Consume less = less garbage. Tada.
Did you know that “about 407 billion square feet of corrugated cardboard was produced in the U.S. last year—enough to completely cover the combined land area of New Jersey, Connecticut, and a bit of New York”? Check out the full article here.
That statistic reflects American production only. Imagine what China must produce! Yikes. Canada itself is one of the top five highest producers of pulp and paper products in the world.
So I burn a lot of cardboard and packaging; in my woodstove during Winter, in my burn barrel and fire-pit during Summer.
In permaculture that’s called “closing the loop.” Or at least, I think it is… I’d have to consult Building a Better World in Your Backyard by Paul Wheaton, easily the best permaculture book out there. Such a funny book, too!
Boy, don’t you wish you could burn plastic? I don’t think I’m nihilistic enough (yet) to throw all my yogurt containers in a blazing barrel. It would be nice if I could recycle plastics myself. Melt them down or something, recast the goop into something useful or artistic, like a chair or a stinky little necklace for my lovely little lover.
Alas, you can’t get away with burning cardboard in the city, not even in the burbs.
Guess we’ll just have to accept the use of energy intensive recycling plants, exporting and importing of recyclables, the employment of thousands of people in paper, pulp, and cardboard factories, and of course, the obliteration of the earth’s forests, all because we like to shop online.
As good ol’ Pete Seeger put it, if it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, designed or removed from production.
He doesn’t mention burning, sadly.
therusticator.com 