Tracking the Secret Life of Trash

It's remarkably easy to throw away that dull razor cartridge or empty juice box, watch as the garbage man hauls away a week's worth of refuse and then forget about it. Out of sight, out of mind.

With more than 3,000 active landfills (in addition to 10,000 retired ones) in the United States alone and concerns over toxic chemicals leaching into our drinking water, not thinking about the life cycle of garbage is a real problem, which is why MIT researchers have devised a program called Trash Track. The project will follow the paths of 3,000 pieces of garbage from New York, Seattle and London from the moment they're dropped into the bin to their final resting places.

Specially designed electronic tags broadcast their whereabouts to the researchers using cellular technology in an effort to better understand what happens with trash once it leaves our collective consciousness, according to an article by MIT News. Researchers refer to the post-collection travels of garbage as the "removal chain," a corollary to the supply chain that brings raw materials together into finished products.

As the tracked trash makes its way from the curb to landfill, the public will be able to watch the migration online beginning in September. Additionally, exhibits at the Architectural League in New York and in the Seattle Public Library will illustrate this flow of garbage that otherwise remains unseen. According to an interview with MIT researcher Carlo Ratti in a BBC News article, the research could expose improper disposal of computer waste, which is often dumped in poor countries where improper landfill practices allow it to leach toxic chemicals into the ground.

The team has big ambitions for its use of cellular technology to give trash a voice, as reported by the BBC. "Ultimately, the team hopes that the technology can be miniaturized and made cheap enough that the tags could one day be attached to everything. Think about a future where thanks to smart tags we will not have waste anymore," said Mr Ratti. "Everything will be traceable."

If all goes as planned, perhaps our garbage will rightly become "in sight, in mind" and, with some thought, reduced.