everydaytrash

Just got a tip from Maxwell about an international gathering of trash pickers hosted by the Bogotá Association of Recyclers (ARB).

“The 18,000-member ARB hosted hundreds of waste pickers from over 40 countries for a four-day conference in early March. Funded by international non-profits, the First World Congress of Waste Pickers was held “to exchange experiences and to create national and international alliances that will protect us from being stepped on by local governments,” said Ospina. The conference demonstrated that although trash recyclers around the world face socio-economic marginalization and harassment from local authorities, recyclers are also becoming increasingly organized and are winning important victories.”

(Photo by Marty Chen for ARB)

As Earth Day approaches, I’m nudged more and more each day by emails from PR agencies to blog about one or another eco-product (a note to publicists: I am happy to receive press releases, but everydaytrash.com is very specifically about garbage so story ideas about the environment in general are best sent to green bloggers). One such nudge came recently from the buzz marketing manager at the New York TImes, aka my sister. She thought you guys might like to see this video (takes a minute to load) about a modern homestead in California where one family has gone beyond recycling to self-sufficiency. The clip goes along with this week’s eco-themed Times magazine. Here are the trash-related blurbs I found interesting, despite a general distaste for the concept of a green issue:

• San Fran’s sanitation department collects compost, which is used by local farmers who in turn cook a local feast for the sanitation workers every year (scroll down to third item);
• Seattle and Boulder have set zero waste goals (third item);
• The disposable v. cloth diaper debate (third item); and
• “Earthships” are solar homes made from recylced products (fourth item).

Image ripped from nytimes.com