Garbage, it’s unpleasant

I’ve never thought too much about garbage. I mean it’s bad and there’s too much of it, right? I didn’t see the connection to me, per se. But then my cat, Fu, tore through an entire bag of garbage in the wee hours and more or less upholstered my kitchen with it.

On my way to the coffee maker Fu rubbed against my leg and left something behind, something viscous and wet. I’m not very astute pre-coffee. That’s an understatement. So I couldn’t begin to guess how my cat, usually soft and warm, was cold and slimy. My eyes had yet to focus. Then I felt a wet crunch beneath my foot and stood staring at my wet eggy sock trying to understand how an eggshell had gotten beneath it and what was happening to my life.

Garbage. It’s unpleasant. No one wants it around. I thought about all of the unpleasantness being produced in homes all around me and being carted off Godknowswhere. Even I know that when it comes to garbage there is no “away.” I realized that I wasn’t really mad at my cat so much as upset about how much garbage I was producing all by myself and the fact that it was now being brought to my attention. In other words I was going to have to think about it.

I hate thinking about stuff.

I’m not a crusader. I mean I have strong opinions, but I don’t actually do anything about them. I’m not really sure what to do about this, but it bothers me and it seems that the first order of business is to find out what and how much I’m throwing out.

So I’ve decided to photograph my garbage. Disgusting…yes, but it seems to me that part of the reason we produce so much garbage is because we don’t have to look at it. It’s magically hauled away by trucks, which if acknowledged at all are acknowledged for being too loud or blocking the alley. We are insanely spoiled.

What possible service could be rendered by garbage pics? I think a closer relationship with my trash will help me see how I can reduce it without making any huge changes. It’s not that I have anything against huge changes. Ok, that’s a lie, but I really believe that small changes might have a big impact and I don’t think the average person is willing to make huge changes at the drop of a hat. Just because I had this garbage epiphanette doesn’t mean everyone wants to cancel their newspaper and quit drinking beer.

I’ll start my experiment tomorrow morning with empty trash receptacles. I’m not going to change my lifestyle. In fact, I will resist any urge to produce less garbage. I want an accurate record of what I throw out in a typical week. I’ll photograph every item going into the trash or the recycling bin and the sum total at the end of the week. And then we will see what’s what. I want to apologize in advance for what you’re going to see. Just so you know I’m a type A. I would wash the garbage before showing it to you if I could.

The Perp