Oscar the Grouch is going to fall in love with me
Hmm, after my last post, and looking at the picture I took of the garbage that I accumulated in less than 8 hours, I thought it would be good to change one of my items for next week. Instead of not using the elevator, I'm going to gather all waste that I create for one week, and display it in my house. I think that it is really important for me to realize how much waste it is that my singular self creates.
Luckily, I'm not on my period next week. (ewww.....)
I remember when I was down in Peru, I would often see piles and piles of garbage just dumped onto the side of the road. Well, what would you do if you didn't have the lovely garbage man to drop by your house at some ungodly hour of the morning and whisk it away? For some reason, I often think once my garbage is taken, it is like someone has touched it with a magic wand, and *poof* it gets dematerialized.
Of course, this isn't true. All my garbage, from my entire life, is sitting somewhere. Or rather, a variety of somewheres.
Apparently, us "average Americans" generate about 4.54 pounds of solid trash per day (per the National Solid Wastes Management Association). Now, I can smugly say, as your typical Pacific Northwesterner, I recycle and compost a good majority of my waste. But, um, er, I then look back at that picture, and the pat on the back turns into a whap on the head. Really, who am I kidding?
I'm fascinated by Sarah McGaughey's & her S.O. endeaver to live a garbage-free lifestyle (Say No To Trash). And they even have a baby now! It seems that since they are trying to reduce their trash, it has also effected the things they buy and how they buy them. For instance, if you don't want to deal with packaging, buy things used! Or, make your own cards, it re-uses some of your magazines, and also saves you money.
So, it should be an interesting week ahead. While, starting Monday, I'll be getting rid of some crap (my craigslist/freecycle challenge), I'll be building up a garbage shrine as well. How delightful.
The Useless Consumer
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Reader Comments (2)
A San Fran guy did a similar garbage-collection project last year: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/30/BAFFU493E.DTL
Good luck!!
Don't forget yr garbage can has a limit :-) for future disposal.