ENVS 185: Garbology (Hughes): Home

ENVS 185: Garbology

Course Description: This class follows the path of our waste products as they are landfilled, burned, treated, recycled, reused, dumped on minority communities, or shipped abroad.  Building on basic chemical and biological principles, we explore the ultimate fate of organic and inorganic waste.  We look to the past and to other societies to better understand how we got to this throw-away society and what we can learn from past practices and other cultures.  We explore sustainable solutions including new efforts to reduce our waste such as "extended producer responsibility," design-for-disassembly, green chemistry, and zero waste.  Students will also learn how to utilize the "life cycle analysis" approach as a basis for those daily decisions such as paper-versus-plastic.  Prerequisite: ENVS 23.  (5 units)

Photo: City of Fresno American Avenue landfill