Could you get through a day without throwing something in the rubbish bin? What about a week? Is it possible to live for one year without producing garbage that winds up in a landfill?
A young American couple has taken on the challenge to reduce their rubbish output to almost zero for a whole year. With two cats, a dog and full-time jobs to manage, they say they are "not going to pretend it's going to be easy"!
One of the problems they foresee is disposing of cat faeces, which is unsafe to do naturally. This and other hazardous or otherwise undisposable rubbish will be left out for the kerbside pickup after being measured for the end-of-year tally.
They have set up a website for the so-called Green Garbage Project, complete with blog to record their successes and difficulties and to encourage others to offer suggestions and alternative means of disposal.
Specific steps that they are taking include: