http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/waste Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Fri, 05 Jun 2026 20:19:44 -0400 Fri, 05 Jun 2026 20:19:44 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1331/a-tale-of-garbage By Ian McTaggart - In 1973, an American archaeologist named Dr. William Rathje sought to create a method that would help his students understand the intricacies of archaeological fieldwork. Dr. Rathje recognized that his students at the University of Arizona were having a difficult time understanding cultural remains from the past (Rathje, 1979, p. 4), so his idea was to use contemporary cultural material waste as a study tool. He named this method "The Garbage Project." Given that the project took place during 1970s and students of the time were far removed from potsherds and post holes, it made sense to articulate... Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1331/a-tale-of-garbage http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/890/the-consequences-of-food-waste By Kyra K. Payne - The copious amounts of forgotten and disregarded food that are tossed mindlessly into our landfills are a global travesty of massive proportions. Americans alone waste enough food in a day to transform the Rose Bowl, a football stadium capable of seating 90,000 people, into a landfill (Bloom, 2010). As an affluent nation, securely cushioned by wealth and privilege, America expends vast resources to feed its population, producing over 590 billion pounds of food annually and simultaneously squandering between 25 and 50 percent of the food that is produced (Bloom, 2010). In a recent study by the... Tue, 22 Apr 2014 10:52 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/890/the-consequences-of-food-waste http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/854/hoarding-plastic-waste-buried-alive By A. Rachelle Foss - Plastic is a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives. Popular for its versatility, it can be attributed to the creation of the numerous conveniences we enjoy in contemporary society. However, traditional plastic does not break down and thus has also become ubiquitous within the environment, and the mounting consequences to its extensive use is being seen. Recycling provides a degree of relief in our efforts to address this problem and can be a boost to the economy but there are barriers that reduce the effectiveness of this solution. In addition to the complex and arduous process of separating and... Mon, 13 Jan 2014 10:35 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/854/hoarding-plastic-waste-buried-alive http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/212/what-to-do-with-nuclear-waste-the-rise-and-fall-of-yucca-mountain By Thomas Backus - With over 20% of United States power production being of a nuclear nature, and all of this nuclear production generating high-level nuclear waste, the US has already accumulated large quantities of volatile nuclear waste and will only have more in the future (Schneider, 2009). Currently, there are few options for dealing with nuclear waste. Although research and development of storage/remediation methods is ongoing, current waste that has accumulated is stored in sealed casks mostly on-site at the plants at which they are generated. This scattering of radioactive waste throughout the country at... Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:46 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/212/what-to-do-with-nuclear-waste-the-rise-and-fall-of-yucca-mountain