archaeography

This is the cover of the magazine that published the first feature article on the 2-something-year-old Garbage Project. The Project had focused on food waste because the quantities were so surprising to sorters. (Yes, Lou, data can speak!) In fact, the Project's first recording form did not even have a category for food "waste" -- of course, it was the first new category added. Food remains were divided into two types -- "food preparation debris" (rinds, peels, tops, bones) and "food waste" (edible or once-edible items, such as a head of lettuce, a piece of steak, half a grapefruit). Subsequent studies determined that all food remains represented about 20% of the weight of household refuse and were evenly divided between debris and waste. That meant that 10% of the collection & disposal cost of household refuse was spent on carting edible or once-edible food to a landfill for burial.