It's difficult to go even an hour without encountering some form of garbage. We live in a consumerist society that values the initial "buzz" of a new purchase over the longevity of quality items. We see garbage while we walk to work, swim in the ocean on tropical vacations, take our dogs for a walk; virtually anywhere we go, we see garbage. How often do we stop to think about where this garbage came from? Who used it? Why was it thrown away? I will take you through an adventure through London, Ontario to see the waste all over the city.
Nearly every object we will come into contact with in our lives becomes garbage at some point. Although we may throw this garbage away, recycle it, compost it, or pass it on to the next person; trash never really leaves us. Much can be understood about our past by looking at it's garbage, just as much can be understood about our future by examining garbage we produce today. In many ways, garbage gives us a window into the past to look through.
Above is an image I shot in my own front yard. As I went out to take photos of waste in areas of London, I thought it would be ideal to begin on my own property. I watched my cat playing in the school across the street, a small well-tended catholic school. On her way back I noticed a little piece of garbage in her mouth -- the bag above. She carried it proudly as if she had just caught a mouse for us. We consume with little thought about the implications it may carry. We grab a cup of coffee from Tim Horton's every morning, not thinking about the waste we are accumulating. We continue on with our lives, easily forgetting the items we have used or once held dear. Items that were important to us at one time become lost and forgotten over time.
A banana peel has been tossed to the side of the road in front of furniture, an image of our tendency to replace rather than fix. By tossing out our unwanted items to the end of the road every week, we feel that they are really gone. Realistically, that furniture will be around for many years to come, decomposing at a rate slower than that of its short-term college student owner. Items in our every day lives are seen as disposable, but is anything really "disposable", when it will be around for generations to come?
As I said before, much can be understood about the past by looking at it's garbage. Will we look back on this bed frame and wonder how we could be so wasteful? We are working towards a more sustainable way to live, so that would be a positive change in our future.
I continued my walk to another area and found an interesting sight. A dog bag lay on the ground directly next to a garbage can. The thing that most interested me about this photo was how close the bag was to the large garbage bin. It is apparent that the individual who put it there did not really consider the implications of leaving waste on the street. I'm sure they didn't stop to consider "what if everyone acted with this level of disregard?". Either way, I think that the image signifies the level of complacency we feel about the earth. Things have been "working" until now, why change my habits? The feeling of "someone else will get that" is one I've felt myself.
Above is an image I took of a topsoil bag behind a partially abandoned building in London. The front of the old building was transformed into Spike's Volleyball, while the back still looks like this:
As I walked to the front of the building, I noticed that the bag of topsoil must have some from the newly landscaped gardens of the volleyball business in front. From the front, the building looked well kept and maintained, but a walk to the back showed a much different side. The abandoned plastic bag felt like an omen to the way we use extensively in order to create a beautiful facade, when behind the surface our trash still remains. We work so hard to create an image with makeup, clothing, and disposable items that we forget how important it is to focus on the depths of our personality.
After a tiring photography session, my boyfriend and I stopped to get ice cream in Wortley Village. As we parked, I noticed an abandoned can in the parking lot, in an otherwise well kept area. I began to think further about the number of disposable items we use each and every day. What was the person thinking when they left this can? Did they assume that someone would eventually come and retrieve their throwaway? I don't believe that any of us would prefer to live in a world filled with trash at every turn, so there must be an explanation for why trash is littered.
There is much to learn about the habits of others when we look at the trash they produce. Was this can tossed to the side by someone too busy to find a recycling bin? Or did they just toss it mindlessly, because that is the way they learned from their parents, who learned it from their parents before them?
This photo of an old torn up sock, surrounded by cigarette butts and coffee cups, was taken in run-down parking lot of an abandoned building. This photo struck me because of how old the sock was. The parking lot hadn't appeared to be cleaned in years, meaning the sock could have been there for a long time.
Abandoned garbage holds so much history and stories into the people that left them. Exploring areas with garbage allows us to take a deeper look into the lives of the people that left them, as well as the value that they place on everyday items. To look further into these items is to gain a better understanding of human psychology throughout different time in our lives. I lived closely with my 96-year-old grandfather for two years, which was an eye opening experience. The amount of waste we accumulate in our generation and the careless nature we have when disposing of our trash is in extreme contrast to the way my grandfather takes care of his items, is sure to properly recycle his waste, as well as the way he would rather fix an item than toss it to the curb and buy another one. Is this because he grew up in the Great Depression, while we have never understood the gravity of not having enough? Do we need an amount of suffering to deeply understand the value of our surroundings?