Environmentalist Rob Greenfield wants to change the way Americans think about their trash footprint by wearing every piece of trash he creates over 30 days.
“For one month, Rob Greenfield is going to live like the average American. He’ll eat, shop, and consume just like the average American which produces 4.5 pounds of trash per day. The catch? He has to wear every piece of trash he creates,” an announcement on his website states. “That’s over 30 pounds of trash on his body by the end of the first week and nearly 140 pounds by the end of the month (almost his body weight)! Every coffee cup, plastic bag, pizza box, every single piece of trash he creates will be on his body, everywhere he goes.”
The idea behind Rob’s “TrashMe” project is to show people the cumulative effects of trash. Most people never think about how much waste they are producing every month. They just seal their garbage bags, put them in the bin and wait for someone to pick it up. But what if they came face to face with a walking, talking display of overconsumption? That might get them thinking about the world’s growing trash problem and maybe even get them to limit the amount of trash they generate.
Photo: Rob Greenfield/Facebook
To make himself visible to a wider audience, Greenfield has teamed up with nonprofit film studio LivingOne to create a six-episode TrashMe web-series. He promises to deliver “a visual of trash that Americans will never forget.”
Photo: Rob Greenfield/Facebook
Rob Greenfield’s unique adventure began on September 19th, and will end on October 19th. Three days in, he has already put on about 8 pounds, just a little bit behind the trash that the average American produces in that time. But by the end of the 30 days, he will have put on over 130 pounds of trash. If you’re wondering how on Earth he’s going to carry all that garbage around, you should know that he will be wearing a custom-made trash suit designed to hold around 135 pounds of trash. Still, that’s roughly his own body weight, so it’s not going to be easy to move around.
For updates on this one-of-a-kind project, keep an ey on Rob’s website, his Facebook page and YouTube channel.
