facts

Solid Waste
Every year, the United States generates approximately 230 million tons of "trash"--about 4.6 pounds per person per day. Less than one-quarter of it is recycled; the rest is incinerated or buried in landfills. With a little forethought, we could reuse or recycle more than 70 percent of the landfilled waste, which includes valuable materials such as glass, metal, and paper. This would reduce the demand on virgin sources of these materials and eliminate potentially severe environmental, economic, and public health problems.
http://www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/solidwaste.html

hording

phase one : collection
the garbage is piling up in my house--not the compost, mind you, that is in the back yard--lots of dry paper, plastic, curious containers, and recycle bin bits.
I am hording and will begin the reinventing festivities soon...

psp project : reuse

My Personal Sustainability Project is the art of pre-cycle, reuse, and reinventing of my personal garbage.

The recycling mantra is reduce, reuse, recycle--in that order. I am already very conscious of my intake, reduce my consumption, and compost and recycle as much as possible. This missing link is to reuse. The recycle bin is overflowing and I see potential to reuse and reinvent these materials before they reach the recycle truck.

When I was a small child, I thought that one day all garbage that we used could be traced back to us. There was some kind of coding attached to our use and discard of waste, and at some point we would be confronted with this monstrous pile of the past. I am now attempting to find landfill nirvana--a land where no garbage exists.