Holy Lord, That’s Not Trash!

Let’s face it, we are perhaps the most wasteful society the world has ever seen. Earlier civilizations would look at our heaping, rotting, contaminating piles of rubbish and salivate at the vast wealth contained ever so compactly beneath the ground. We live in a nation so embedded with wealth that we crumple and toss everything from still usable essentials (food, clothing, furniture) to items which would be priceless in earlier eras (or in some countries).

We’ve created, through the ingenuity of our greatest scientists, a concoction of chemicals so stable that they will never bio-degrade. This material is a nearly ever-lasting and extremely flexible substance yet it’s been turned into one of the most disposable items our society so carelessly casts aside. Plastic has become so abundantly worthless that we’ve thrown away enough to create an ever growing island twice the size of Texas out of it; floating, as it is, in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

Give yourself pause; that Coke bottle you dropped at the zoo five years ago is part of a new garbage continent. Those trash bags you toss out every single time you’ve gone grocery shopping for the past decade or two have amassed in such a great number as to create a peninsula rivaling that of the two Koreas.

Before we start claiming territory (although if it comes to that I call dibs on candy wrapper mountain and the surrounding plastic toy valleys) perhaps we should take a better look at all of the so-called garbage we take to the dumpster/curb every week. Within it we can find not only a way to stave off ecological apocalypse but useful, fun, rewarding, and interesting items and projects to gives ourselves and our families something to do. God knows we could all use some productive activities; One Tree Hill, American Idol, and Grand Theft Auto IV do not a complete man or woman make.

Mouth Key

With that in mind I’ll be doing abit of experimenting to find out ways you can turn your refuse into a pile of worthless gold. In coming blogs I’ll be tearing through my apartment looking for ways to keep my trash can empty. Perhaps, through my research, I will arrive at discoveries which will forever eradicate the very need for such a receptacle! Garbage men cower, for your job may soon be as obsolete as books in the White House library.


Photos courtesy of (in order of appearance): David Wolk

18 thoughts on “Holy Lord, That’s Not Trash!”

  1. My brother just sent me a link to making a play house out of newspaper which you can find here: http://pepperpaints.com/2008/05/13/newspaper-hut/. Of course, this would only delay getting rid of the newspaper. We have been using newspaper to get rid of weeds. We put newspaper down on top of weed intensive areas and then put compost on top. I saw some cool purses out of candy wrappers recently but I cannot remember where.

  2. My brother just sent me a link to making a play house out of newspaper which you can find here: http://pepperpaints.com/2008/05/13/newspaper-hut/. Of course, this would only delay getting rid of the newspaper. We have been using newspaper to get rid of weeds. We put newspaper down on top of weed intensive areas and then put compost on top. I saw some cool purses out of candy wrappers recently but I cannot remember where.

  3. My brother just sent me a link to making a play house out of newspaper which you can find here: http://pepperpaints.com/2008/05/13/newspaper-hut/. Of course, this would only delay getting rid of the newspaper. We have been using newspaper to get rid of weeds. We put newspaper down on top of weed intensive areas and then put compost on top. I saw some cool purses out of candy wrappers recently but I cannot remember where.

  4. I think we should find a way to build houses out of plastic bottles !! That would be awesome 🙂 Or have more hardcore rules about seperating trash. My friend lives in Berlin, and they have to seperate trash into 8 catagories, it takes up his entire kitchen. It’s against the law not to recycle and seperate your trash there — yay! Think of all the construction ideas to be had with mountains of trash that are all uniform in their material.

  5. I think we should find a way to build houses out of plastic bottles !! That would be awesome 🙂 Or have more hardcore rules about seperating trash. My friend lives in Berlin, and they have to seperate trash into 8 catagories, it takes up his entire kitchen. It’s against the law not to recycle and seperate your trash there — yay! Think of all the construction ideas to be had with mountains of trash that are all uniform in their material.

  6. I think we should find a way to build houses out of plastic bottles !! That would be awesome 🙂 Or have more hardcore rules about seperating trash. My friend lives in Berlin, and they have to seperate trash into 8 catagories, it takes up his entire kitchen. It’s against the law not to recycle and seperate your trash there — yay! Think of all the construction ideas to be had with mountains of trash that are all uniform in their material.

  7. Thanks for the positive feedback and helpful ideas. I promise I will steal each and every one of them provided.

    This is my first post and I am just getting used to all the rules, regulations, and systems around here so I ask everyone to be patient as this newbie does his best to learn how thinks operate around here.

  8. Thanks for the positive feedback and helpful ideas. I promise I will steal each and every one of them provided.

    This is my first post and I am just getting used to all the rules, regulations, and systems around here so I ask everyone to be patient as this newbie does his best to learn how thinks operate around here.

  9. Thanks for the positive feedback and helpful ideas. I promise I will steal each and every one of them provided.

    This is my first post and I am just getting used to all the rules, regulations, and systems around here so I ask everyone to be patient as this newbie does his best to learn how thinks operate around here.

  10. I love all of this energy. Most of the time, I find myself watching green conversations aimed at the wrong end of the problem – consumption. This is wonderful to see people attacking the waste-side of the equation.

    I wanted to interject that improper disposal of computer products can have even more dire consequences for our environment. Please make sure that you not only find an environmentally friendly way to dispose of your personal computer products that are ready to retire, but that you let your voice be heard within the companies you work for – make sure they have an acceptable and clearly articulated policy for disposing of computer assets. Sometimes companies look for ways to make additional cash off of value-less computer assets. Please make sure this doesn’t happen: http://tinyurl.com/23wrbv .

    There are several companies that can assist with proper disposal. We like to think we’re among the best: http://www.greenassetdisposal.com .

  11. I love all of this energy. Most of the time, I find myself watching green conversations aimed at the wrong end of the problem – consumption. This is wonderful to see people attacking the waste-side of the equation.

    I wanted to interject that improper disposal of computer products can have even more dire consequences for our environment. Please make sure that you not only find an environmentally friendly way to dispose of your personal computer products that are ready to retire, but that you let your voice be heard within the companies you work for – make sure they have an acceptable and clearly articulated policy for disposing of computer assets. Sometimes companies look for ways to make additional cash off of value-less computer assets. Please make sure this doesn’t happen: http://tinyurl.com/23wrbv .

    There are several companies that can assist with proper disposal. We like to think we’re among the best: http://www.greenassetdisposal.com .

  12. I love all of this energy. Most of the time, I find myself watching green conversations aimed at the wrong end of the problem – consumption. This is wonderful to see people attacking the waste-side of the equation.

    I wanted to interject that improper disposal of computer products can have even more dire consequences for our environment. Please make sure that you not only find an environmentally friendly way to dispose of your personal computer products that are ready to retire, but that you let your voice be heard within the companies you work for – make sure they have an acceptable and clearly articulated policy for disposing of computer assets. Sometimes companies look for ways to make additional cash off of value-less computer assets. Please make sure this doesn’t happen: http://tinyurl.com/23wrbv .

    There are several companies that can assist with proper disposal. We like to think we’re among the best: http://www.greenassetdisposal.com .

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