Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Homemade pastries (photo: Amy and Adam Korst, Green Garbage Project)
Adam and Amy Korst of Dallas, Oregon, have done something rarely attempted in modern American culture: go an entire year without producing any garbage. Sensitive to the volume of waste Americans discard into landfills, the Korsts have tried since July 2009 to be as garbage-free as possible.
They have documented their saga online through Green Garbage Project.
But even a couple dedicated to a life without paper or plastic waste haven’t been perfect—they reportedly have a shoebox-sized amount of stuff they’ve been unable to recycle, reuse or compost. They expect that by July, they will have avoided throwing away one ton of garbage, compared to their lives before the experiment.
The average American produces 4.6 pounds of garbage a day, of which three pounds goes directly to a landfill, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Going Trash-free for a Year (by Jay Shenai, Willamette Live)
Welcome to a Year without Garbage (Green Garbage Project)
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