This website (http://saveyourtrash.typepad.com/) profiles the exploits of Ari Derfel (pictured), who saved all the trash that he produced over the course of a year:
http://saveyourtrash.typepad.com/save_your_trash/images/2008/02/14/ari_and_trash1_6.jpg
Taken from an interview Derfel gave to Real Simple Magazine, he details the amount of trash that he accumulated over the year. Beyond all the organic and food waste he generated, which was composted, Derfel said that the pile of trash was the size of a queen-sized bed and weighed 238 pounds. The 238 pounds consisted of:
· 143 pounds of glass
· 26 pounds of plastic
· 21 pounds of paper
· 11 pounds of metal
· 6 pounds of Tetra Pak beverage containers
· 31 pounds of miscellaneous waste.
Derfel’s biggest takeaway from the project?
“… that the vast majority of my trash came from food packaging. … Now I can’t buy a single thing without thinking about the energy that went into manufacturing it, how far its parts traveled until it was assembled, and how far it then traveled to get to the store where I purchased it.”
Have a good weekend.
David
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
