Dirt Conference: ACT 10 tracing trash

8/8/2019 Dirt Conference: ACT 10 tracing trash

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ART CRAFT TECH 2010:

ACT10 is planned and executed by Clarinda Mac Low, Elliott Maltby, BabetteAudant, Sara Eichner, Deena Patel, Neha Sabnis, Jill Slater, and Kathy Westwater

tracing trash


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urban land use + food


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tracing trash*[1] what is trash? trash vitrine

[2] where does trash come from? the n-dtgc[3] where does it all start? deriva-trivia

[4] where else might trash go?guerrilla composting

what do we consider excess, disposable, useless?can an excavation of trash reveal how New Yorkers understand this hidden

social and physical infrastructure?could plucking trash temporarily from the waste stream serve as a catalyst fornew ways of understanding or even minimizing that stream?


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My whole life is about trash. Greek Orthodox priest, chaplain to all the New York City hospitals

Why do I need to put my broccoli in a bag? It's spent its whole life outside. greenmarket patron McCarren Park

I'm always putting trash out. I can't seem to get away from it. Union Square participant

Why can't you bring your own dish to restaurants for take-out? Union Square participant

What can you do with trash? Burn it or bury it. Incinerators generate electricity. And recycling can be a big

money-maker.financial industry worker who worked in sanitation as a high school +college student.

I saw a TV program about that big island of plastic in the middle of ocean. Now that's really terrible.parks dept.

trash collector, Union Square

What happened to the water fountain? Maybe we should re-brand water fountains as 'water bottle filling

stations,' and then fund their upkeep and repair. McCarren Park participant

Less consumer activity = less packaging = less garbage (wishful thinking)McCarren Park participant

talking trash


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trash vitrineThe trash collection aspect of Tracing Trash looks for patterns of day to day life

revealed in stratified layers of garbage collected over time. Sorting and formalizing

collected garbage in clear vitrines takes sorting our trash to a level beyond the ritualsof separating plastic from glass from compost, and reconsiders the results of daily

consumption.

sh looks for

llected ove

sorting our tompost, and r

ns of day to day life

. Sorting and formalizing

o a vel beyond the ritualsiders t esults of daily


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x

+

+

+

+

x

home

C Cooper hospital

M Mittal Tower

Nariman Point10

VP Vile Parle

de-coding the tiffin

originating station

office

picked up:between 7-9am returned: by 6 pm

delivered: by12.30 pm

+

10C9

M

16

VP

red: dabbawala team, originating stationC: Cooper Hospital

VP: Vile Parle

10: Nariman Point

9: dabbawala responsible for destination area

M: Mittal Tower

16: 16th floor


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n-dtgc [non-disposable to go container]Can the re-design of the familiar to go container challenge our reliance on and acceptance

of the disposable? As ACT10 started talking more about the n-dtgc, it became apparent

how omnipresent the disposable container is in the city landscape, and how the solutioninvolves much more than re-thinking the object. Currently a prototype is being developed,

along with alternative distribution system scenarios. ACT10 members and other interested

participants will be testing the prototype at a range of restaurants that rely on disposable

containers.

Total number of food containers in a given system must stay constant,containers can only be transferred from one user to another.- Tracing Trashs Food Container Law of Conservation

This hypothesis is supported by the joint effort of N-DTGC1

Designand n-dtgc DN2, as a part of generating a DCW3 Free Society.1. N-DTGC: Non-Disposable To Go Containers2. n-dtgc DN: Non-Disposable To Go Containers Distribution Network3. DCW: Disposable Container Waste


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n-dtgc

how to challenge behavior? requires both a design + systems solution:+what was the trigger for people in relation to water bottles?

+the pleasure of happy meals for kids in part is the packaging, lunch boxes+food justice tax: 10% on delivery without n-dtgc, to go to food pantries

+is there some way to also link this to a more empowered

delivery work force? tiffin system runs independently+is there a mobile cleaning system?

+ maximize portability [size, weight, convenience]

+ develop clear delivery + pick up infrastructure

+ cradle to cradle, responsibility of the restaurant

+ disposable biodegradable membrane [cleaning]

learning from the tiffin

fast food /chain scenario:

branded container that can bereturned to any franchise location

local bodega / deli scenario:customer owned container

residential delivery scenario:delivery + pick up as part

of the order

small deposit as part of the cost

work delivery scenario:work place owned containerpick up + delivery as part

of the order

pick up / to go scenario:universal container that can be returned

to a satellite cleaning hubsindependent business model


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DERIVA-TRIVIAexplores the role of derivatives and commodities in the trajectory of trash before consumption

-- its the trashy prequel to the trash. What you always wanted to know about derivatives

and commodities but were afraid to ask ACT 2010 asks for you, and attempts to answer.

topics covered:

+ how expected rising costs of food commodities and adverse currency exchange

rates will inflict great difficulty on developing nations

+ the debate about genetically modified seeds versus non-modified seeds+ anticipated flooding of agricultural lands with global warming, particularly with

respect to developing nations where flooding is expected to be the greatest.

+ research into current trends in futures prices for chocolate and wheat to articulate

the similar and divergent relationships that exist between luxury and essential

food goods.

This will be a roaming, ranging, meandering, dialogue - an

amateur, graphic, and at times messy performative incursion

into a perfectly imperfect topic.


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I learned how regional language is: in New York, I would plant a flower in dirt, but in Colorado

that dirt is garbage...I tried but its hard for me to say earth; I'm a New Yorker, I'm not from theWest, "earth" is a little too mythic, mystic for me. But I could at least say soil... vito acconci

soil.dirt. garbage. waste. trash. mongo. compost. excess. decay. loss. useless.

Dirt Conference: ACT 10 tracing trash

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