Various word associations propel and perpetuate the designation of trash as something entirely deleterious. This is most easily understood in light of the way the word, and its various associations, are utilized as adjectival expressions. People are often unwittingly categorized as “White Trash,” and bad relationships are considered “disposable.” One’s demeanor or wardrobe might even suggest that they are “trashy.”
Yet, despite the inherent stigmatization which plagues social interaction, trash has become a locus of fascination. It is fundamentally rooted in media and entertainment. From early childhood, one is bombarded with images of an unusual green character that draws its existence from the confines of the garbage can. It garners attention in daily papers, online forums, and television specials which document the increasing problem of disposing of items, and efforts to recycle. In a local paper entitled Real Detroit, they provide pictures of trash finds in each weekly edition.
Issues concerning the importation of trash, brings the various items which we dispose of into the realm of possession and identity. Garbage connotes distinctions of his/hers, mine/yours, and, most especially, ours/theirs. Here, trash becomes a way of making distinctions between groups of people, and a way of associating with others.
Although these are the varying means by which the issue of trash itself is continuously recycled, the pursuit of trash has developed into a passtime. Fascination with that which has been disposed of can be identified in consideration of trash collectors, antique salesman, and second hand shops. The phrase “One person’s trash, is another person’s treasure,” seems entirely prescient here. Trash collecting is a sport; an activity. It has entered the transitory realm of the artistic, the trendy, and the competitive. Current television shows highlight the fascination with competitive trash collecting; The desire to find something which has been used, and to use it in innovative challenges.
In an attempt to illuminate the transitory and unexpected nature of these developments, this website facilitates the means by which this fascination can be documented. Furthermore, this website is an attempt, on behalf of the author, to suggest that which is often considered, and yet, entirely undocumented and un-pursued. Inevitably, trash becomes something; something which fills landfills, finds its place in other homes, or that is reworked to mechanical absurdity. Still, the questions remain.
It has been said that trash tells a story. The story of consumption has been documented extensively. But, trash also provides an opportunity for narrative. An opportunity to consider something beyond statistical calculations. The contemporaneous status of trash suggests a story, which this site will attempt to facilitate.
This site will not attempt to document American disposal as it is generically/stereotypically perceived. Instead, it will try to express trash through figuration and extensive fragmentation. This is an attempt to suggest, not an effort to define. Attempts to define generally yield percentages and statistics. When attempting to express fascination, these numerical spreadsheets are just as disposable as the trash trends they attempt to document
