Top 14 Trash Blogs

Great Pacific Garbage Patch I really admire people who pick up trash. I admire even more so, people who not only pick up trash, but are active in their reduction. The following are my favorite Trash Blogs.

1) Everyday Trash – In the words of Brooklyn-based journalist Leila Darabi, her Everyday Trash blog is all about “the “˜out’ in toss out and the “˜rid’ in get rid of it.” Anything you could possibly want to know about the art, money, power, people, and the literature of garbage can probably be found here. It covers topics ranging from scholarly examinations of the language we use in our trash discourse to suggestions for eco-friendly erotica.

2) 365 Days of Trash – This blog chronicles the experiences of one man who has decided not to throw anything away for one year. Since the beginning of January, he’s been keeping all of his garbage and recycling in his basement. At the end of the day, he totals everything up and keeps a running tab of all the trash he’s produced ““ from bottles to paper recycling to E-waste ““ and posts the poundage for your perusal. In addition to 365 Days of Trash, he also maintains the SustainableDave andAchieving Sustainability blogs.

3) Plastic Free! -EnviroWoman decided to try living plastic-free as a 2007 New Year’s Resolution, and she’s still going strong in her second year! Finding non-plastic replacements for the things we use daily is no small feat, as this blogger illustrates in her detailed plastic-free progress reports. Plastic is used in the production and process of almost everything ““ from paint to paper to clothing, and even dentist and veterinary visits. Whereas the average consumer uses about 200lbs of new plastic each year, EnviroWoman managed to use (mostly by accident ““ plastic is sneaky!) just over one pound in 2007.

(please note that this is a great blog, but no new posts since January)

4) Wasted Food – Jonathan Bloom examines how and why America wastes nearly half its food. The average American throws out over half a pound of food everyday ““ that’s about 12.5% of their overall daily garbage. It might not seem like a lot, but at the end of the year it amounts to 30 million tons of food waste in landfills emitting methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Kind of disheartening, when you think about the fact there are people in the world who are so malnourished, they’ve resorted to eating mud. Bloom provides helpful food donation/recovery action tips for both individuals and businesses.

5) Visible Trash – If you think a plastic bag caught in the wind is the most beautiful thing in the world, then this blog is definitely for you. Garbage = free art supplies for these pioneering artists who use trash as materials for their creative endeavors. Trash photography, multi-media rubish art, trash fashions, and trash collecting expeditions turned museum exhibitions are just some of the things you’ll find on Visible Trash. (Great pic’s on Trash to Treasure)

6) Save Your Trash – Ari Derfel decided to take up residence with his trash for one year, and lived to tell about it. His blog is collection of his discoveries, experiences, and meditations on his own consumer waste, as well as a few musings on some of his most embarrassing (?) and favorite garbage bits. Learn where he kept it, how he lived with it, and what he learned along the way that is helping him to reduce his trash in the coming years.

7) Last Night’s Garbage (NYC) -This photoblog documenting NYC’s garbage is inspired by the statistic that American’s throw away enough garbage to fill 63,000 garbage trucks every day. The images themselves are sometimes strikingly beautiful, given their subject matter. Picture a half-deflated balloon with Elmo’s waving face on it, forlornly discarded in street puddle reflecting the sinewy image of winter trees.

8 ) Etsy Trashion (USA)  Trashion is jewelry, fashion and home decor made from materials that have been discarded, leftover and found. For the Etsy Street Team artisans, the recycling of these materials into trashion objects isn’t just a fun past time – it’s a manifestation of their philosophy of innovation, environmentalism and human healing.

9) Say No To Trash -(MI)This blog explores one couple’s attempt to eliminate all of their household garbage production since 2004. Their first attempt was for 31 consecutive garbage-free days (a near success), after which they kept all of their garbage for a year and a half – it amounted to just under two black garbage bags. They hope their blog will inspire others to join them in reducing their eco-footprint in all aspects of life.

10) Fake Plastic Fish -(CA)  Beth Terry’s Fake Plastic Fish blog is all about rethinking our relationship with plastic, reducing unnecessary plastic waste, and learning how to live responsibly with the rest of it. Beth provides detailed writings on where the plastic that she does use comes from, and how she’s incorporating plastic-free alternatives into her lifestyle.

11.) The Earth is not a Trash Can I was always taught to keep our earth clean and pristine. Just as I was taught to make my bed each day, brush my teeth and clean up after myself whether indoors or outdoors.I started this blog in June 2007 because I was disgusted at the amount of litter I found. I wanted others to see what we were doing to our earth.

12.) Litter Butt (TN) My organization hopes to educate on the environmental impact of cigarette litter. But what makes this idea unique, is that i want to collect cigarettes to make cigarette collection facilities out of them. which in turn print educational material on them….in a way a self-sustaining perpetual infrastructure.

13.) Trash to Treasure– (FL)  non-profit organization that has a mission to locate clean, re-usable materials (called “clean scrap”) and redistribute these items as valuable educational and artistic resources.These items are typically discarded by businesses and households. In the minds and hands of creative individuals – teachers, artists and children – these “clean scraps” take on new life, beneficial to both children’s learning processes and the environment.

14.) No Trash Challenge Various authors embark on a 30-day challenge to be trash-free and blog about it along the way. You can be next!