Wasted Planet: How Educators Can Introduce the Epic Trash Crisis

Abstract. This article centers around photos that I took during the 2009 Toronto garbage strike, revealing how garbage transformed Toronto’s busy streets. While these photos are more than a decade old, they remain relevant and symbolic of a broader socio-political issue: municipal solid waste, known as everyday trash. It is the stuff that fills garbage bags and recycling bins like newspapers, plastic water bottles, and food waste. Municipal solid waste is a major global issue, with more than a billion tons created annually around the world. In this article, I take a metaphorical dumpster dive into this trash crisis. I list resources and activities that educators can use to start talking trash in K-12 and post-secondary classrooms. Special emphasis is placed on what I am calling, ‘Trash Dialogues’.