About the Project

"I hope that my achievements in life shall be these - that I will have fought for what was right and fair, that I will have risked for that which mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need that I will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've been." ~ C. Hoppe

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an unchartered land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit." ~ Helen Keller

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In October 2006 I had dinner with three friends, Vince, Carolyn and Britt. While sitting in my living room eating a delicious, local, organic meal (we are all foodies with remarkable culinary talents) the topic of trash came up in conversation. To be honest, I don’t remember how it came up or how it meandered its way to the concept of me attempting to save my trash for a year. Needless to say, it did. Two months later, on December 4, 2006, I started saving it in the closet of my kitchen.

My original goal was to get two 96 gallon bins from the local waste management company. They quickly informed me that it was illegal to keep trash in bins and not have it removed regularly. Gotta love the law!! I decided to simply keep it in my closet, and instead of stuffing it into two bins I decided to organize it by type, so it could be seen, felt and understood more clearly.

I have accomplished the goal with 99.9% accuracy. I have kept all of my trash, per the rules I set for myself, for 1 year.

Next I hope to find an artist who is far more visually creative than I am. I am very creative in other ways. You know, ways like, “maybe I should keep all of my trash for a year.” I’m much less visually acute and inventive. If you’re that artist, let me know. I want to turn it into a fascinating, unique, beautiful, revealing, biographical piece that people will want to see. This has some serious potential.

Then I plan to start a second year to see if I can make less trash then I made the first year. I also hope to attract some other people to do it with me, perhaps make it a national competition for fun to see who can make the least amount of trash in a year. I plan to film the second year and to make a fun, interesting, funny, informative documentary about it. If you want to help out, now is the time. Get in touch!!!