“New” Garbage vs “Old” Garbage: Does It Matter?

Published by Vanessa Brunner under Reuse/Recycle

I recently read an article in the New York Times about the pop up shop trend that retail stores nationwide have been grasping on to. If you haven’t heard of the concept, a lot of stores are setting up temporary locations in major cities across the United States. The store goes up and comes down in a certain period of time–mainly to advertise/highlight a newproduct/trend/line.

In terms of marketing, it’s pretty smart. And effective.

In terms of the environment, not so much.

"Recycling Regiment 1" by Peter Kaminski on Flickr Creative Commons

As the NYT article highlights, this type of practice results in a lot of unnecessary waste. For most of these pop-up shops, the materials aren’t reused or reusable–and are simply tossed to the curb when the shop is torn down.

I love what the Here/Nau/NYC pop up is doing–creating their pop-up shop entirely out of recycled materials. Jean-Pierre Veillet is a genius. In a way it’s a little sad. This shouldn’t be something unique, it should be what EVERYONE is doing.

"Bar Sixty Two" by Mugley on Flickr Creative Commons

What struck me about this article, besides the innovation on the part of Veillet, was the idea of “new” and “old” garbage. The quote, “…so when the store closes, at least the garbage won’t be new” really stood out.

Does it make a difference if the garbage is old or new? How much of an impact are you having, if it still ends up in the waste stream? Certainly it is more beneficial to our planet to reuse what we have rather than adding to the waste, but in some sense, I can get the frustration voiced by many people: if it’s going to end up in the trash anyways, what’s the point?

"Garbage Blues" by Isado on Flickr Creative Commons

It’s really important to keep the big picture in mind. I think a lot of individuals underestimate the power of “baby steps.” It really doesn’t feel like it sometimes, but every little bit helps. Honestly. When a lot of people do little things, these little bits increase exponentially, making a huge impact.

What do you think?

2 Responses to ““New” Garbage vs “Old” Garbage: Does It Matter?”

JenBeautyStaffs says:

November 10, 2009 at 12:24 am

I go back and forth about the actual impact of baby steps. My geologist friend assures me that, by most measures, we’ve already blown it — climate change is happening, regardless of what we do now. At most, we can mitigate its severity or delay its worst effects. However, I think environmentalists essentially need to be optimists and to believe that their actions contribute towards a solution. Definitely harder some days than others.

As for old vs. new garbage, it’s probably a matter of degree. Is re-using old material better than junking it and using new stuff? Of course. Would it be ideal if we lived in a world where we used less, bought less, and threw away less to begin with? Absolutely. I guess I don’t really see the necessity of a pop-up shop to begin with!

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Kirsten@Nexyoo says:

November 10, 2009 at 2:54 am

I agree that baby steps, when taken by many people together, do have a large impact. At the same time, I think we can often go further than baby steps, even in the beginning. In the case of pop-up shops, it would be great to see fixtures that could be used by one shop after another, rather than anything being thrown out in the end.

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