A quick how-to on making bioplastic in your kitchen via MAKE. Laser cutter not included.
A recipe for bioplastic
Friday, February 5, 2010 by Leila DarabiTrash all over Stockholm
Thursday, February 4, 2010 by Victor BernhardtzRemember the trash collector wildcat strike that broke out in Stockholm exactly one year ago? Yesterday, the labour court came to a decision on issues in the aftermath. In short, the court ruled in favour of the tra$h company who fired wildcat striking trash collectors who wouldn’t accept a monthly salary, instead of the piece wages traditionally paid in the industry.
The union organizing trash collectors have (in outrage) responded to this by announcing that they henceforth will abide strictly to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which will be problematic to say the least. Union spokesperson Peder Murell issued the following statement to the Swedish Radio:
We will not haul trash bags heavier than 15 kilograms [33 pounds], we will not handle containers without wheels, we will not collect if snow hasn’t been shoveled away. I expect a lot of stuff will stay where it is.
As context, Stockholm has had its coldest January since 1987 and there is more snow than anyone can remember. To be continued.
Plastic chandelier
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 by Leila Darabiunconsumption finds the neatest stuff. Anyone who follows this blog should also follow that one. Case in point, this recycled plastic chandelier by artist Katharine Harvey.
Katharine Harvey's recycled plastic chandelier
Reminds me of this chandelier, also brought to our attention by unconsumption.
Apples
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 by Leila DarabiCity Harvest’s new PSA highlights food waste in New York.
White Goat
Monday, February 1, 2010 by Leila DarabiDustbins calling the mother white elephant
Monday, February 1, 2010 by Victor BernhardtzSwedish Radio reported earlier this week that Västra Götaland County are about to test the next generation of dustbins. The dustbins, using ultrasound, will be calling in to some sort of central command mother computer when they are ready to be emptied. This mother computer will transfer the information to trash collectors before they go out to do their business, but not before calculating the most efficient way to wheel the white elephant* on that particular day, taking into account weather effects on roads.
Freight costs are expected to drop by 25%, as only necessary stops will be made. More importantly, this is just too cool!
*refuse [collection] lorry; us eng. garbage [removal] truck, sanitation truck
A plastic education
Friday, January 29, 2010 by Leila DarabiThis article, which I came across via my friend Oriana’s Facebook page, might just restore my faith in the Peace Corps. Why? Because Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner used her time in Guatemala to lead a local effort in collecting plastic bottles and used them to build a school.
Photo by Laura Kutner via planetgreen.discovery.com
Thanks, Oriana, you always have the best trash tips!
Greening the ghetto
Friday, January 29, 2010 by Leila DarabiWatching Majora Carter’s TEDTalk on the way to work today reminded me why I’m such a big fan of this local environmental revolutionary. She articulates better than anyone what it’s like to live in the “away” other people never picture when they throw things away, the lasting legacy of Robert Moses and the impact his reign over New York City planning and expansion had on her neighborhood and how she has led a community effort to fight back and “green the ghetto.”
On the job
Thursday, January 28, 2010 by Leila DarabiCollecting trash is a dangerous job. You don’t have to travel to developing countries for examples of why this is true. A Mack truck ran into and killed a sanitation worker this week as he was standing behind his truck in Queens, New York. If you read the comments in this City Room post, you’ll see locals complain that even though this street may have been closed to giant truck traffic, Mack trucks cut through it for convenience. I don’t know yet if that’s true—if the truck that killed this sanitation worker had made an illegal turn or a legal one—either way Frank Justich’s death was tragic.
Garbage Warrior
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 by Leila Darabi
Attn: New Yorkers
UnionDocs is showing Garbage Warrior—the documentary about radical sustainable architect, Michael Reynolds—on Friday, January 29th, @ 7:30 pm. Director Oliver Hodge will be on hand for a Q&A. And at least 50% of the everydaytrash.com team plans to attend.
Since we first blogged about this film in 2007 and 2008, it has traveled the festival circuit racking up awards. Check it out if you’re in the area and keep an eye out if you’re elsewhere.
Thanks for the tip, Oriana!
WTF, Borders?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 by Leila DarabiDear corporate bookstore owners: you do not trade in trash.
Doomed bookstore
From the HuffPo:
Last month, corporate parent Borders announced they will soon be closing 200 Waldenbooks book stores in communities nationwide. Current Waldenbooks employees have come forward to alert the public that the company plans to dispose of many unsold books in the cheapest, easiest, least responsible way possible – by trashing them.
Read more here. First H&M, now this. Clearly we aren’t doing a good enough job communicating the simple reality that throwing things away is never the cheaper solution. Not in the long run. Ideas on how to better message through the thick skulls of corporate America?
Thanks for the tip, Robin.
Trashspotting
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 by Leila Darabi“15 Trashspotting blogs” = the Best. Roundup. Ever.
And I’m not just saying that because we made the cut. This listing of “trashspotting” sites on the Construction Management Degree blog includes some of our favorite trashies—Last Night’s Garbage, The Visible Trash Society, 365 Days of Trash—as well as a most intriguing group of newcomers. I can’t wait to check out the Budapest Trashspotting Club.
Stay tuned for a bloated blogroll and reflections on the meaning of trashspotting.
George Orwell in void of thaw
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 by Victor BernhardtzOne of my favourite blogs is The Orwell Diaries; a complete reprint of the diaries of legendary writer George Orwell. A new post is added as long as there was an entry in the diary 60 years ago. Hence, today we learn what Orwell wrote on the 19th of January 1940. It was apparently cold in the UK at the time (as it is now). Orwell had a bit of a conundrum around what to do with his trash:
No thaw. A little more snow last night. Cannot unfreeze kitchen tap but unfroze the waste pipe by pouring boiling water down the straight part & hanging hot water bottle over the bend. Tried to dig a hole to bury some refuse but found it impossible even with the pick. Even at 6” depth the ground is like a stone.
9 eggs.
Polite graffiti
Sunday, January 17, 2010 by Leila DarabiDecorative Dumpster Day came a little early to NYC when “polite graffiti” artist Finley swung by to wallpaper some trash receptacles.
Courtesy photos
Trashtastic. Thanks for the tip, Erica.
Claudia Borgna
Sunday, January 17, 2010 by Leila DarabiLittle Shiva over at The Visible Trash Society features Claudia Borgna today, an artist whose primary medium is your every day plastic bag. I urge you to take some time to peruse Borgna’s website because her manipulation of these items is extraordinary.Be sure to check out images of her nature installations—billowing bags tied to resemble flowers, pods and other-worldly orbs—and dreamy performance pieces like the one pictured here.
Claudia Borgna
In her statement, the artist describes:
I find plastic bags interesting because of their remarkable contradictory qualities. Plastic bags are in fact both worthless and useful, disposable and recyclable, flimsy and strong, ephemeral and eternal, but above all they are universal.
Thanks, Little Shiva, for this special find.
