An activist in New York City is pledging to wear every single of piece of trash he creates for 30 days.
That means every McDonald's wrapper, Starbuck's cup and plastic bag Rob Greenfield is handed will be placed not in the garbage can, but in his clear "trash suit."
Greenfield, who is also an adventurer, said he hopes to showcase the amount of garbage the average human creates each day by wearing the 13 pocket-suit around New York City.
“A lot of people don’t realize how much waste they make as a person,” Greenfield said in a phone interview. “What better way to show how much waste one person makes than to wear my trash that I make for a month.”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American generates about 4.5 pounds of waste each day.
Greenfield, who is currently on day 12 of his 30-day experiment, said the response to the trash suit has been positive in the city, with many people stopping to take pictures or tell him they’ve seen videos of him on social media.
The suit currently has 30 pounds of trash, but by the end of the 30 days it should have around 135 pounds.
“It’s starting to get heavy,” he said. “I was out yesterday for 6-7 hours with it on, so still able to move around pretty effectively.”
While Greenfield typically aims to live a near zero-waste lifestyle, he said he hopes the project will inspire Americans to reduce the trash they create.
"I wanted people to see what the trash is so that they can relate to it,” he said. “They’ll see a coffee cup and think, ‘Oh, I drink coffee,’ or a pizza box and think ‘I eat pizza.’”
For those who want to reduce the amount of waste they produce, Greenfield recommends starting small:
- Bring a reusable water bottle with you.
- Carry reusable bags to the grocery store
- Buy a reusable coffee cup from your favorite coffee shop, or carry one with you.
- Change your shopping habits by making a point to buy more unpackaged foods.
