A rubbish life for LA marathon recycler
by Tangi Quemener Tangi Quemener – Tue Dec 23, 1:37 am ET AFP – Dave Chameides poses with his trash for 2008, in the basement of his home in Los Angeles, California(AFP/Robyn …
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Dave Chameides has spent almost an entire year living a life full of utter garbage, and hoping he can inspire other Americans to do the same.
The Los Angeles -based cameraman has lived in his comfortable Hollywood home without throwing away a single piece of trash, from wine bottles to chewing gum and pizza boxes.
Instead the 39-year-old Chameides -- nicknamed "Sustainable Dave" -- recycles his garbage or else stores it in his basement. He says he wants to show that it is possible to dramatically reduce his family's consumption habits.
And he can show astounding results. Rather than the 1,600 pounds of trash the average American family produces each year, Chameides, his wife and two daughters have amassed only 32 pounds over the last 12 months.
"If I were the average American, this entire basement would be filled with plastic water bottles ," said Chameides, who chronicles his campaign with an Internet blog (http://365daysoftrash.blogspot.com).
Chameides has shunned bottled water in favor of filtered tap water -- except when on holiday in Mexico, but even those water bottles were brought back to his home, compacted and stored with other trash.
His war on packaging also extends to the family groceries. Rice and pulses are bought by the kilo and placed in containers, while fresh fruit and vegetables are purchased at a weekly neighborhood farmers' market.
In fact, groceries was one of the easiest areas to eliminate packaging, Chameides said.
"The food is not so bad, but with DVDs, kids toys and so on, it's packaging you don't want, and it's frustrating," he told AFP. "What you don't realize is that you're paying for it, and pay for it again to dispose of it."
"So I buy rice and beans in bulk, there's no packaging. I pay less, it just makes sense. People need to wake up and say, this is not OK."
Ironically, even Chameides's rubbish will not go to waste. In January, his refuse will be sent to the Trash Museum of Connecticut to be exhibited.
Meanwhile, organic waste, such as banana skins and egg shells, is minced up by worms and used as compost. "Any kind of organic food and paper, except meat and fish. It's a really amazingly efficient system," Chameides enthuses.
His southern California home is fitted with solar panels while his car runs on used cooking oil . However, he insists that even if you don't follow his example to the letter, " sustainable living " can be achieved without huge sacrifices to your quality of life.
"I'm eating fresher food, I'm saving money , helping the local economy, supporting farmers instead of corporations. For me that's worth it. It's just thinking about doing the right thing," he says.
"It's just little steps. I'm not living in a cave. People think that the US quality of life should be living in a house with lights on all the time. We live a pretty decent life, by many people's standards we live a phenomenal life."
Even wrapping paper for Christmas gifts presents an opportunity to recycle.
"If we wrap something, it would be either in comics or something useful, reusable," he says.