Trash Talk is a project that explores consumption and waste production in our daily lives. The structure is this: for two weeks, an individual frog carries – at all times – whatever trash they produce that is not recyclable or compostable. Throughout this time, the participant records his/her progress, predicaments, substitutions, and solutions, sharing the experience with others through an online journal. For participants and readers alike, the experiment serves as a wake-up call to the direct impact of consumer habits on the global ecosystem. At the end of each two-week period, a new frog continues the project in another of our international studios, experiencing his/her own stint of trash-free living. The transference of this blog seeks to highlight the differences in environmental consciousness across cities, environments, governments, and economies. And, ideally, it’ll mean a few hundred less pounds of garbage in our landfills – a small step, but a measurable one.

The rules are as follows:

• Participants must remove all garbage cans from their house/ desk.
• Participants may not use public garbage cans/ or anyone else’s garbage can.
• Participants cannot give garbage to someone else to throw away.
• Participants may recycle.
• Participants may compost.
• Participants may flush the toilet.
• Participants may incinerate items.
• Participants may donate objects to Goodwill or other charity organizations.
• When participants eat in a restaurant, unless it states that it composts, they must either finish everything on their plate or take it to a compost facility.
• Any garbage created, the participant must live with. It must stay on him/her (in a purse, bag, etc.) or within five feet at all times.