#HTE

Urban Design Observations: The Functional Volume vs. Actual Mass of Trash

At a Dunkin’ Donuts in Gowanus. 

Having worked in restaurants for years, it always captures my attention that you can fit 100 new, folded napkins within a certain volume, but crumple them up and you can only fit 10 in the same space. Ditto with coffee cups.

This garbage can isn’t full; it’s filled with paper bags, receipts, straw wrappers, empty un-nested coffee cups and lids, et cetera, and no one wants to push the garbage down.

When I lived in Japan, I worked at a junior high and got to witness the Japanese school lunch procedure. Lunch is served in the classroom by students, and students also do the cleanup.

Each student gets a box of milk. After finishing his, the boy in front of me removed the straw and compressed his box completely flat. I looked around to see the other students doing the same. All of the flattened juice boxes in the class of 34 then went into a small transparent garbage bag, taking up a minimum of space. 

When I asked the teacher about it, he explained that it only takes the students a few seconds to do, and multiplied across the school, flattened milk boxes required less garbage bags and less trips to ferry said garbage bags. 

I was impressed, and ever since then I compress my own garbage as best I can.

http://www.core77.com/posts/77593/Urban-Design-Observations-The-Functional-Volume-vs-Actual-Mass-of-Trash