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Amazing email from Nancy

Thursday, March 12, 2009
forever21bag

Fused plastic tote by Nancy

I woke up to this incredibly sweet note in my inbox this morning:  “Hi Leila–I went to see your presentation at the Princeton Library, and got inspired to 1) resume blogging, 2) make dozens of fused plastic totes. Thanks for the push into upcycling.”

Thank YOU Nancy. Garblogging is fun in and of itself, but it’s exciting to get proof beyond web stats that people out there are getting something out of everydaytrash. P.S., that CVS/Forever 21 mash up bag is rad. Keep us posted on the fusing madness.

Posted in Garblogging | 3 Comments »

Recommerce

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Rich and Bob started YouRenew.com out of their dorm room at Yale. The site promotes a concept they coined: recommerce. AKA recycling incentives. Basically, it’s a directory of how to get paid to recycle your electronics. Thoughts?

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This American Life

Thursday, March 12, 2009

And of course, This American Life has devoted an entire show to our favorite topic. Have a listen to the garbage episode, first aired back in ’05.

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Marine Trash

Thursday, March 12, 2009

ira-glass1Recently, I’ve become addicted to  back episodes of  This American Life. It’s a cliche of my demographic, I know, but I heart Ira Glass. This morning, while rooting through the onlne archives, I found this show, which includes an opening segment on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In it, Ira talks to an environmental sea captain with his own Web site on the topic of trashed bodies of water and efforts to restore them.

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Posted in Trash Politics | 2 Comments »

A.P.E.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A friend at the UN researching nongovernmental organizations sent me this link today, to The Association for the Protection of the Environment (A.P.E.).

Garbage seperation project

Garbage seperation project

Since 1984 this NGO has worked to organize Egyptian garbage collecting families in and around Cairo. They run a composting center, health programs for mothers and children and a paper recycling program. They also coordinate a series of microfinance activities, helping families make and sell rag rugs, patchwork and recycled stationary. The funds raised go into community projects like new roads, schools, clinics and tree planting. Sadly, the links to buy their goods don’t seem to work or I would pimp them here.

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Contxts

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Finally, zero waste biz cards. I’ve been having an ethical dilemma for over two years now about whether it’s hypocritical to print paper cards for a trash blog. Solution part a came via Cool Hunting today: sms contact cards. Soultion part b is homemade cards. Photos coming soon.

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Posted in Garblogging | 2 Comments »

unconsumption

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

unconsumption is a side project in the form of a tumblr started by Rob Walker, author of the weekly Consumed column in the Times magazine. It is also a concept tackled in some depth on his blog, Murketing. I think you’ll enjoy these links.

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Posted in Garblogging | 1 Comment »

Reblog: Wallpapered Dumpsters

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Check out C. Finley’s clever and trashy street art, wall papered dumpsters.

C. Finley

C. Finley

Via Wooster Collective

On a mostly unrelated note, I saw a racoon (at least I hope it was a racoon, it could have been a very large possum or a big freaky rat on steroids) at the corner of Smith and Bergen last night. It looked like it was about to walk down the steps to the F train platform, but some people walked by (without noticing it) so it ran under a car instead. I imagine it was checking out curbside dining options from all the restaurant trash bags on that block. I’ve seen racoons in Brooklyn before, but never one that looked like it might get on the Subway.

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Posted in Artistic Trash | 4 Comments »

Found on Vimeo

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Check it, a trashy Donky Kong-esque game some guy made for a school project on the environment. I hope he got an A.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about "Found on Vimeo", posted with vodpod

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Posted in Artistic Trash | 1 Comment »

Trash Mountain

Friday, March 6, 2009

To demonstrate the huge amount of recylclables that end up in the garbage at the University of Missouri, a group called Sustain Mizzou had a forklift drop four tons of trash bails in the center of campus and stood on top of it. They called the project trash mountain. This clever group has a host of ongoing awareness projects, including an initiative to offer recycling at tailgating events. Even their Sustain Mizzou t-shirts are recycled, a great idea for any trashie team. Rock on kids. And seriously, get some help with your Web site. All these neat projets should be better showcased online!

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Posted in Trash Politics | 2 Comments »

Al-Azhar Park

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Where there was once a dump, there is now green space. Al-Azhar Park in Cairo, Egypt grew out of a project of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, aimed at revitalizing the Darb al-Ahmar neighborhood and restoring and showcasing the area’s historic art and architecture.

Al-Azhar Park in Cairo, once a rubble dump

Al-Azhar Park in Cairo, once a rubble dump

For the full story of this transformation, check out this fantastic post from City Parks Blog, complete with links to a PBS video. One estimate cited in the project overview found that the amount of green space per resident of Cairo was about a footprint before Al-Azhar. I hope it’s a little better now.

Photo via Tines Egyptian

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Trash Into Treasure: SMART Art Competition

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Calling all trash arstists!

Enter the Adventure Ecology and Sculpt the Future Foundation’s SMART ART ‘TRASH INTO TREASURE’ competition.

Show the world how discarded items can be redesigned, reused and re thought by turning every day waste into works of art and everyday functional items.

Via MAKE

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Posted in Artistic Trash | 6 Comments »

Weekly Compactor

Monday, March 2, 2009

recycled felt ring by The Garbologist's Wife

recycled felt ring by The Garbologist's Wife

This week in trash news:

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America’s soft toilet paper addiction

Friday, February 27, 2009

toiletpaperEco-Libris (the company you can pay a modest fee to plant a tree for every book you read) is trying to get a conversation going around the latest installment of Greenpeace’s Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide.  Check out the debate on the Eco-Libris blog.

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The Economist …

Thursday, February 26, 2009

…has a special report on the American waste industry this week.

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