One Little Bag

Waste Age has reported on trash blogs before, but this one is exceptional. Inspired by the short film, “The Story of Stuff,” (which is really making the rounds) Matthew Luxon and his wife Waveney Warth of Christchurch, New Zealand, challenged themselves to produce as little waste as possible between Feb. 1, 2008, and Feb. 1, 2009. They set several ground rules, including not buying anything housed in non-recyclable packaging or just avoiding anything deemed “junky,” mandatory composting, making at home what they might otherwise buy, etc. Then they kept a blog documenting their experience, titled "Rubbish-Free Year."

The byproduct of one year of two people living this way: One small bag of nonredeemable trash. Most impressive. I highly recommend reading the last entry in the couple’s blog, which includes an amusing itemized list of exactly what that bag contains.