Talk:William Rathje

Notability question

Not only is this a stub, I wonder if in fact this person is quite important enough to have their own wikipedia article. it sounds like something I could write about myself or my father, without any real consequence to humankind. Perhaps if he'd at least published a book (even a textbook) or was the head of several organizations? I'm not trying to put William Rathje down in any way, but there's a threshhold of importance for Wikipedia articles, and I'm not convinced by the current content that he meets it. I'm also wondering about his inclusion on the Notable Alumni page for the University of Arizona. Short point: Make me understand why he's more important than any random person I can meet on a college campus. Then he's worth a Wikipedia article and inclusion on Notable alumni (which is not intended to be a list of all degrees received by all wikipedians who graduated from the UofA). --ABQCat 11:42, 26 Sep 2004 (UTC)

He's the primary academic concerned with the fascinating topic of garbology and has been for decades. His center at Az is the foremost for the topic. Connections to scociology, to environmental study, pollution study, business planning (packaging, etc). and so on. He should be here, but there should certainly be more information on him, the discipline, and current results of garbology investigations here and there. I left it very stubby because I didn't know about the subject to write adequately. Didn't know he was an Ariz alum (nor why he should be listed as Notable, except for the garbology). ww 18:30, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)

He is an ethno-archaeologist who focused on the relationship of people and their trash and especially in more modern periods. He published his book Rubbish, which can be purchased from most booksellers. Dr. Rathje using a variety of technologies and research projects, many funded by public health organizations and the EPA, has applied methodology that was formerly used solely for antiquities, to modern dumps around the country. In the process he and his students have developed models that can accurately determine what is going into our landfills and in what quantities. While it may not seem important to know that over 50% of what goes into our landfills is recyclable paper products, it is very important to know what chemicals and in what amounts are filling our landfills and thus potentially leeching into our water supplies. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mercwyn (talk • contribs) 01:31, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Death

I've just read about his death, but don't have an official source for it yet. Dougweller (talk) 15:10, 29 May 2012 (UTC)