Garbage Can Be Beautiful - If We Work On It

Great news! Garbage is beautiful - but who is looking at it? In the U.S. we created 258 million tons of trash (in 2014) therefore garbage is pretty much everywhere, and more and more people are looking at it in a new, more environmentally responsible way. While only a quarter of people consider themselves conservationists or environmentalists, and while about 4 in 10 people say they care about the environment of our planet, the vast majority of people makes a daily contribution to the garbage can or recycling bin. This means that whether you care or do not care, most folks participate in the disposal process making garbage, even if they do not voice or act on their preferred way to remove it.

Friendly Challenge: take a new trash bag at the beginning of your day, and carry it along with you as you go about your activities of daily living. Place all trash you produce into this one bag, and when your day is done, you will see all your garbage aggregated together in one bag. If your family or office would like to take on this challenge together, you can share one garbage bag to see the total amount of everyone's garbage.

Media depicts garbage often, because garbage is a big part of our lives, though we don't always realize it. The friendly garbage bag challenge is an amazing social exercise. If you took on the friendly challenge, you may have a big bag of trash hanging out with you up close and personal all day. So has trash gone social?

That hot hashtag #YourGarbageYourChoice has shocked a lot of people. The biggest reason is because not all areas of the U.S. have easy access to recycling options. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, recycling includes more than just the blue bin next to the trash can. The EPA website says: "The most effective way to reduce waste is to not create it in the first place." Reducing, and reusing are the most effective ways to save natural resources - and this includes donating used but still good items to charitable re-sale shops. The next level up: shop for the things you need at the charitable re-sale shops. Your keen eye could spot a fantastic widget that perfectly fits the bill!

Another media representation of this situation is the huge number of recycling memes. A quick search in an internet browser's images tab using the terms 'recycle' and 'meme' brings up tons (yes, l said tons, sorry!) of recycling memes (not all are Rated G!)

Media isn't just hashtags or memes however. Media includes fine art. Found object art means a natural or man-made physical item (or fragment of an item) in which an artist sees an intrinsic worth. The artist will display the found item, combine it or modify it with other items, to make an art piece. The term arte povera refers specifically to art created with everyday natural materials of soil, rags, and other throwaway materials. One of the most artistic, poignant movie scenes is the 'plastic bag sequence' in the 1999 movie American Beauty: "You want to see the most beautiful thing I've ever filmed?"

Garbage doesn't ever really get removed. Sure, it gets removed from out of our immediate sight. The problem is, the old saying, Out of sight, out of mind, is no longer sustainable. What is sustainable is a managed plan to educate ourselves and implement better recycling procedures. This is going to include individuals and families, businesses, municipalities and government, and international relationships. Knowing the problems to try to shrink the problems should complement efforts that are expanding on innovative, workable solutions. The infographic shown spells out the reality of where we are today, plus it adds to the conversation by spelling out ways to 'think outside the recycling bin.'