Indiana

Statistics and Rankings

The 16th Nationwide Survey of MSW Management in the United States found that in 2004 Indiana had an estimated 13,570,231-ton municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, placing it eighth in a survey of the 50 states and the capital district. Based on the 2004 population of 6,302,646, an estimated 2.15 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) were generated annually per person, the highest in the United States. Indiana landfilled 8,469,912 tons (ranking 9th) in the state's 35 landfills. It imported 2,165,429 tons of MSW, and export tonnage was unreported. In 2006, Indiana was increasing its 245,570,987-cubic-yard landfill capacity, and it was ranked joint 16th out of 44 respondent states for number of landfills. Only whole tires and lead-acid batteries were reported as being banned from Indiana landfills, with a partial ban on yard waste (no leaves or coarse wood debris longer than three feet). Indiana's average landfill fees per ton were $29.57, where the cheapest and most expensive [Page 420]average landfill fees in the United States were $15 and $96, respectively. Indiana has one waste-to-energy (WTE) facility, which processed 569,263 tons of MSW (14th out of 32 respondents), and 4,531,056 tons of MSW were recycled, placing Indiana eighth in the ranking of recycled MSW tonnage.

Archaeology of the Homeless

Professor Larry Zimmerman at Indiana University-Purdue (IUPUI) has used archaeology to study the homeless subculture in Indianapolis. Working with Jessica Welch, a former student and ex-homeless person, Zimmerman used previous experience from investigating a homeless campsite in Minnesota. He stated, “homeless people, often invisible to those around them, have, use and dispose of material culture as they move across the landscape. But because people are homeless, many Americans think they lack material culture.” Discarded food remains, containers, personal items, and bedding at former campsites, as well as caches of material left for future use, are often regarded as refuse by society at large. Abandoned cars, discarded mattresses, and personal belongings stored in garbage bags can appear to be trash when homeless people are actively engaged in recycling them.

The Indianapolis study is completely unlike past anthropological studies of homelessness, which have mainly been ethnographic and taken place in controlled settings like shelters and hostels. Avoiding interacting—and therefore interfering—in the lives of vulnerable people, Zimmerman and Welch located camps and shelters, which they photographed, and inventoried the items left and discarded there. They did not open caches of goods sealed in trash bags and hidden in discreet places, as these had been hidden by homeless people for future use. The refuse of the homeless showed that aid given to the homeless often constitutes society's preconceptions of what it thinks homeless people need, rather than what they actually require. For example, Zimmerman and Welch found numerous hotel-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste, but only the toothpaste had been used by the homeless, as dental care is a greater priority to hair care and access to water is limited. Large numbers of used food cans were found that had been opened by hitting them with rocks or heating them until they exploded—ownership of a can opener was rare.

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