I’ll never forget the smell.
It hit me before we even pulled up – an invisible wall of sour, chemical air that clung to my clothes and hair for hours. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that smell is the scent of “away.”
You know, the “away” we all talk about when we throw something in the trash and say, “Oh, it’s gone now.” Except it isn’t gone. It’s here. Sitting in layer upon layer, compacted into a massive mound that felt like it could swallow a city block whole.
Austin alone landfills 4,000 tons of trash per day. That’s:
- A 2-story building packed wall-to-wall.
- 16 million plastic bottles.
- Half a football field filled 6 feet deep. Every. Single. Day.
If every human on Earth (all 8 billion of us) produced trash at this rate, we’d landfill 12 billion tons of waste per year – enough to bury Manhattan under 2,000 feet of trash annually.
And then there’s diapers. 20 billion diapers end up in U.S. landfills every year. Globally? 250–300 billion. Each one takes 400+ years to break down. They’re the #1 household plastic waste item.
When I stood there at the landfill, it hit me that all this trash wasn’t just “waste.” It’s plastic particles small enough to enter our blood, our lungs, even our brain tissue. It’s the microplastics found in the Mariana Trench, in Antarctica, and yes – in us.
We’re the only species on Earth with a concept of trash. Every other living being participates in a regenerative cycle. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is unwanted. It’s all food, all fuel, all part of the ecosystem.
So why not us?
Simple shifts, big impact
Here’s what I’m celebrating in my own life:
- 🌱 I finally got an electric composter – and no, it doesn’t attract fruit flies.
- 🌱 I grew my first garden veggies and herbs (even as a city girl). Nature did most of the work. We got nourished, for pretty much no cost.
- 🌱 I use reusable canvas bags, carry my water bottle, and think twice before buying clothes I don’t need.
These sound small, but small scales. Imagine the collective shift if we all did this.
And yes, HIRO diapers are part of this too. It’s why we designed them differently – using 50% less plastic (only where it matters), unbleached, and powered by nature’s original decomposers: fungi. 🍄🌍
Visit a landfill. Seriously.
If you ever get the chance, take a trip to a landfill. See where “away” actually is. Feel it in your gut. It’s uncomfortable – but it’s also clarifying.
We can shift. We can re-attune ourselves to ecosystem consciousness and remember: we’re not separate from nature. We are nature. And when we act like it, big things happen.
#WeGotThis
Xo,
Miki
PS. I’m back on the speaking circuit ✨
See my speaking page and topics [click here] 🚀
Contact: hello@mikiagrawal.com for speaking inquiries.