Tracking Trash

Every day we throw out trash and put it out of our minds. Food wrappers, disposable razors — the list goes on and on. We don’t generally think about where it all ends up after dropping it on the curb or at the transfer station.

But a group of MIT researchers is trying to kick start our awareness through a program called Trash Track. They’re tagging thousands of pieces of rubbish - electronic waste as well as household garbage - with high-tech locators and keeping tabs on where they end up.

The lab has put mobile tags on fifty pieces of trash so far in Seattle, to see how they move through that city’s disposal chain. The goal is to make the trash removal chain more transparent — if people know where their waste is headed, maybe they’ll throw out less of it.

Joining us on the line as part of our “next green thing” series is Assaf Biderman. He’s associate director of MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory and a trash track project leader.

BBC News: Tagging Technology to Track Trash

New Scientist: Smart tags to reveal where our trash ends up

(Photo courtesy SENSEable City Laboratory)