Trash in a pasta bag? If you're reading this then you might be asking, How does an idea (and a series of photos) like this come about? That's a fair question. I'll try to explain without resorting to my usual short answer, which is that I'm just crazy like that. First, I'll talk about photographing trash.
During the Fall of 2014, I began taking selfies with my trash. Yes, selfies with my trash. I wanted to hold myself accountable for the waste I was producing that was not being reused or recycled. I wanted to hold myself accountable for the trash that I was contributing to the local landfill, the trash that was going to be buried in a hole in the ground where it would eventually decompose and contaminate the soil and water below. These photographs of my trash did not include the waste that I washed down drains - soap, toilet paper, shampoo - nor did they include the waste that I was indirectly responsible for - the waste produced by restaurants, grocery stores, manufacturers, etc. from which I bought goods and services - but they did include the waste that I directly produced and for which I could account.
I felt that photographing my trash would help me continue a process I had started years earlier: the process of rethinking my consumption habits and making changes to be a more responsible steward of the earth. Over the past 15 years, I have seen my trash dwindle from a grocery bag full (about 2 pounds) each month to a pasta bag (about 6 to 8 ounces) every 20 days. By photographing my trash, I have become more aware of my consumption and of my contribution to the landfill, and I have forced myself to change my habits more than I had before.
Now that I've talked about photographing trash, I'll talk about the pasta bags. This part is simpler: I eat pasta for many of my meals, and much of that pasta comes in bags. For me, pasta is relatively inexpensive, it's tasty, and it's filling. Pasta also provides me with carbohydrates for running, and I run quite a bit. In fact, I run, on average, 25 to 30 miles per week. I do buy pasta in boxes that I recycle, but I also buy it in bags that I can't recycle. Even though I can't recycle these bags, I can use these bags for trash. And that's what I do - for several months, I have been using pasta bags for trash. More specifically - and you may note this if you look closely at the photos above - I have been using rigatoni bags for my trash.
And there you have it: trash in a pasta bag. If you check out this site in the future, you may find some tips for cutting consumption, for reusing materials, and for composting and recycling. For now, I will leave you with two ideas:
1) Use bags that your food comes in - like pasta bags - for your trash instead of buying trash bags. You'll save money, and using smaller bags may lead you to rethink your own habits and cut down on your waste.
2) Photograph your trash. You may not realize how much waste you produce until you begin to document it in some fashion. On average, we in the U.S. produce about 4.5 pounds of waste each day, directly and indirectly, but we only recycle about one third of that waste. That's more than 1600 pounds of waste per person per year. That adds up to more than 480,000,000,000 pounds, or 240,000,000 tons, of waste per year in the U.S. alone. If we collectively make different decisions regarding our consumption and waste, we can cut down on our contribution to the landfills. Thank you for reading.
