"The Trash Walker" is saving your waste

Brut America

She goes through people's trash and gives discarded items a second life to fight overconsumption. Meet "The Trash Walker."

Transcript

00:00I think people want to recycle, but they don't know what to do, how or what to do.

00:04I think a good rule is if you think it's not recyclable, it's probably not recyclable.

00:17I think a lot about my grandma, who grew up in the Great Depression,

00:20and if there was leftover, she would make it into a casserole.

00:23She would make sure that everything was used as much as possible.

00:26Old clothing she would cut up and make into rags.

00:30It's really not about individual school or individual teachers.

00:40This is the reality of the situation.

00:42And what can we do differently so that year after year, it's not the same thing?

00:47And it was like this before COVID, and it's still like this.

00:49And I think a very easy thing is the free tables.

00:52I think you could also inventory better with like, what do you have in stock,

00:56then kind of adjust the purchasing as a result of that.

01:04A couple pairs of sunglasses, toys, like I'll give this to my dogs, a tennis ball.

01:10None of that is recyclable. None of this is recyclable.

01:12Their Xbox.

01:15Xbox 360.

01:16If you think about when someone moves, there's a lot of moving is expensive,

01:20and shipping things is expensive.

01:22And so people will toss things that they don't feel is worth it to them to move.

01:26So like an ironing board, light fixtures, dishware, pots and pans, books.

01:37Let's go to CVS.

01:39Most stores waste a lot.

01:41So they waste things related to past holidays,

01:44just like excess inventory they didn't sell.

01:46Sometimes there's bad ordering.

01:49So you just end up with a lot of things for no reason.

01:51I see this all the time with their own prepared food like this.

01:57Personally, I think that not a lot of people eat this food or want this food.

02:02And so they should probably produce less of it.

02:07Or discount it heavily when you know it's going bad.

02:11One thing that I've experienced with CVS is they're very hierarchical.

02:14I spoke with a regional manager,

02:15and even they don't have control over the donation partnerships.

02:18You have to go higher up.

02:19And ultimately, one of the people I spoke with had to get permission from the CEO.

02:24And you can't do that when you have a chain of 10,000 stores.

02:27You need to be able to empower the regional managers,

02:30the managers, even the employees.

02:40Big flowers.

02:42So definitely not recyclable.

02:43I'm going to post it in my Buy Nothing group to see if anyone wants it.

02:46So no money is exchanged ever.

02:48And I love it.

02:50I think it's a really great community and a great way to meet your neighbors.

02:54And then also a great way to pass things along

02:58and give things to someone who you know will actually use it.

03:09What I try to do is group things by theme.

03:13So a lot of school supplies, erasers.

03:16There was beads, wrapping paper, different toys, books, binders, paper.

03:21I would say this was a school supply-themed trash rock.

03:33When you have the swap spots or free stores, it activates community.

03:37And it becomes a gathering place, and it becomes a sharing place.

03:40I think, to me, this brings out the best in me.

03:43And I think it brings out the best in other people too.

03:46We need to use things that we already have

03:50in order to be more in sync with what the earth can provide for us.

03:54Because we know that we're using way more resources

03:57than the earth can regenerate every year.

04:08A federal donate-don't-dump law would impact the retail sector.

04:13Right now, retailers take advantage of a tax loophole that says,

04:17if something comes into your store and it's destroyed along the way,

04:21you could get a tax write-off.

04:22And that makes sense.

04:23What they do, though, is deliberately destroy merchandise

04:27and say it falls under this destroyed loophole.

04:30As a result, they're able to deliberately destroy merchandise

04:33and then write it off.

04:35In the U.S., there's consistent overproduction of food.

04:37You could see that, especially with bread products, donuts, pastries,

04:41those type of things that have a short shelf life.

04:43I found that a lot with seasonal products,

04:45like Valentine's Day-themed candy or chocolate in general,

04:49also seems to be overproduced from what I've seen.

04:51I think that if you continuously overproduce,

04:54there should be some sort of tax on that.

04:56I don't think that waste is a partisan issue.

04:59It's something that I think we can all agree on,

05:01that we're wasting too much and it's a shame and it's not okay,

05:06especially when you have so many people in need.

05:09And that it's really common sense.

05:11So it makes sense to correct the tax laws

05:14and make it so that we incentivize donations.

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