Click here to see other cool things you can do with an old plastic jug!
It’s convenient to think of the trash can as a black hole into which scraps and discards and mistakes disappear. But these cities, some of the greenest cities in the world, know better. Producing more trash means wasting more money and using up more resources that could be put to better use.
In the past few decades, the fashion cycle has accelerated, price tags have plummeted, and shoppers have adapted: We’ve learned to buy more clothes and value them less.
Spring cleaning may inspire you to load a bag full of old clothes to Goodwill, but what about cleaning up your cheap clothing habit instead?
How long has that pile of ratty clothes and old shoes been sitting in the corner? If you haven’t missed it the last five years, odds are you won’t be looking for it this summer.
Let’s pretend for a moment that someone, somewhere, might want the things you’re ready to leave on the street a few doors down. How about harnessing the awesome power of the internets? There’s a website for almost every entrepreneurial (or charitable) inclination.
At This Vending Machine, Swapping is the New Buying
Enter the Swap-O-Matic, a fresh New York City-based vending machine project that wants to “shift culture away from an emphasis on unconscious consumption” by encouraging people to donate and receive used items for free.
It’s time for a new 30-Day Challenge! In July, GOOD is going to try and waste less. Way less. Like, only produce one standard grocery bag of trash per person per week. Senior editor Cord Jefferson explains:
Every year the residents and businesses of Phoenix alone send one million tons of solid waste to Buckeye, Arizona’s, SR85 landfill. That’s about one ton per resident, and it’s enough garbage to fill the city’s pro football stadium from top to bottom seven times over. Outside of Arizona, the average American produces about 4.4 pounds of garbage per day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and in Mexico, households create 30 percent more trash than Americans. It all seems insignificant at first—a Starbucks cup here, a sandwich box there—but pretty soon you’re sweating while hauling giant Hefty bags to the curb yet another week in a row. Let’s stop being so trashy, and let’s start this month.
The response to last month’s challenge was overwhelming. Let’s make July even more awesome. If you’re in, reblog this post (or tweet!) with the text, “I’m joining @GOOD’s #30DaysofGOOD Challenge to waste less.”
In the video above, the GOOD staff explains how we’re each gonna make it happen. What are you going to change?
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