Waste Not, Want Not

IN OUR modern consumer society, the safe disposal of garbage and dangerous waste products has become a nightmare. In contrast, God’s creation is a marvel of economy and recycling. Take, for example, the honeycomb. Beeswax, the building material of the honeycomb, is an expensive commodity—a honeybee needs 1/2 ounce [16 g] of honey and an undetermined amount of pollen to make just 1/32 ounce [1 g] of beeswax. How do the bees budget their beeswax? “The wax walls of the honeycomb’s cells come together in threes at 120-degree angles, forming a regular array of hexagons,” explains the book By Nature’s Design. “This pattern lets the bees minimize the amount of wax they use, while providing a rigid structure in which to store honey.” So an ingenious structure combines beauty of form with economy of function, and it can be recycled!

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