New Scientist and MIT track your trash for the good of the planet

On a long enough timeline, all gadgets, white goods, furniture and consumables end up in the trash bin, and the latest tech from MIT is designed to track their subsequent journey from your porch to the great beyond. Partnering with the New Scientist magazine, researchers are hoping that by mapping where garbage ends up, they can awaken that atrophied muscle of environmental awareness in us all. The project will attach SIM cards to particular items of trash, which will beep out their location information every 15 minutes. You might think this somewhat underwhelming -- given all the bells, whistles and bomb-proofing that garbage cans have been adorned with over the years -- but interest appears high enough to justify exhibitions of the project in New York and Seattle starting this September.

[setilife @ Jul 16th 2009 3:49AM]

I better cut back on those Starbucks latte :(((

[Ryan @ Jul 16th 2009 4:11AM]

instead of moving forward with technology, we are tracking garbage, excellent.

[Bad Beaver @ Jul 16th 2009 6:13AM]

Great, finally folks will see that 90% of the garbage they "recycled" with great effort ends up in the same cesspoolin' landfill in rural China. If that ain't progress I dunno what is.

[Derek @ Jul 16th 2009 6:27AM]

I'll only endorse New Scientist if they give me that Moon rock they had laying around.

[tekdroid @ Jul 16th 2009 6:54AM]

We need to be made aware where things end up. Also, where they begin.

Electricity meters in-your-face, telling you each day how much you consume and how much it's costing you. We treat it like it's a never-ending source, and that's the problem. I want a simple LCD in-my-face tracking my progress on a monthly, yearly and daily basis and allowing me to punch in the cost in KW/hr and it calculating the cost. Something simple, not elaborate with wifi and whatever. It should be made a requirement for all new homes/apartments.

Water. Same deal. How much it's costing you each day and how many litres you go through, all accessible in your home/apartment. In-your-face, so to speak. Take old-fashioned meters away. We need to make it far more usable, in-your-face and far more meaningful and fun and accessible from inside the house.

Garbage-tracking is great if it makes people realise nothing ever really goes away and no resource is limitless and wise use of resources doesn't mean huge sacrifice - in fact it can be made fun. They should make a small documentary of their adventures.

The biggest step anyone can make is growing their own food and not buying overpackaged crap to begin with, though - even if their own stuff only covers 20% of their needs, imagine the influence that would have on wasteful manufacturers and their sales. Far more than any recession or so-called economic crisis.

That's it, I'm done :)

[neofolklore @ Jul 16th 2009 8:16AM]

and then if you consume too much your natal equipped 360 will turn the TV on and show your avatar looking at you in dismay with its arms folded.

[teej @ Jul 16th 2009 12:54PM]

don't need an Natal, dude... that's what "wives" are for.

[iRoc @ Jul 16th 2009 4:44PM]

It's called your bill! They tell you exactly how much electricity, water, or sewage you've used or pumped out.

This tech is just a way for the government to tax you on things you've already been taxed on. Be that in a sales tax or the tax tacked on to your monthly bill.

Not sure who said it, but growing your own food would be a great start. If growing enough food to last you and your family for a year would require one to quite their job an farm full time. Expecting to be able to grow a years worth of food to feed a whole house hold requires a lot of time and work, and doing it on a part time basis allows for entirely too many variables that one would not have adiquate time to react to and adjust for on a part time basis. That doesn't even take into account those that require meat. To produce ones own meat takes even more time and work, because those animals need to be feed also.

While in theory your plan is great. In real world aplication it's not practical.

[Zach @ Jul 16th 2009 8:50AM]

I am far too tired of the environmentalist movement telling me I should inconvenience myself for society or the planet (even though they haven't fully convinced me that my impact is worth inconveniencing myself) to care about this. Give me innovation, and stop telling me that I'm evil.

[GingerFox @ Jul 16th 2009 9:48AM]

So its too hard for you to recycle something instead of throwing it away?

What you wrote is bullshit, and just shows how lazy and close minded you are. Do the world a favour and just shut up.

[Zach @ Jul 16th 2009 10:45AM]

@ GingerFox-

That's a pretty closed-minded statement yourself. You are case and point as to why I give the environmentalist movement so little credibility, I give an informed and well stated comment, and you respond with an uninformed, closed-minded, blatant insult.

[10minutehobo @ Jul 16th 2009 11:27AM]

If you can't see your impact, then seriously, you need to educate yourself.

Google is your friend.

[Zach @ Jul 16th 2009 12:04PM]

@10minutehobo-

Yes, google is my friend. There are a total of 250,851,833 registered vehicles in the US, as of a 2006 survey. I have one of those, so my immedeate impact on global vehicle emissions is equal to 1/250,851,833. However, transportation emissions account for 14% of man-made emissions, according to the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research. My transportation emissions are now equal to the function of (1/250,851,833)*.14. That's a pretty small number. Now tack on how much of the earth's atmosphere is composed of CO2: .038%. Your function now looks like this: ((1/250,851,833)*.14)*.038.

Unknown to most, buildings are actually the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses. I've heard 800,000,000 as a good round number to dub as the number of buildings on earth. I take part in one third of one, so my emissions accounts for this function: (1/3)/(800,000,000). Now count in how much of an impact buildings have one greenhouse gasses: ((1/3)/(800,000,000)*.48. That, also, is a very small number. Again, tack on the CO2 composition: (((1/3)/(800,000,000)*.48)*.038.

These numbers are both too small for MS Calc to give a real number. Sorry.

This is only emissions, however. Let's talk about trash. My phone weighs 3.5 ounces, about .22 lbs, rounding up. According to the EPA, the united states produces 250 million tons of trash per year, or about 500,000,000,000 lbs. The impact of my phone on this is equal to .21/500,000,000,000. I can actually run this number on MS Calc, and I get 0.00000000000042.

It amazes me that I will have to pay, should this be put into regulation, for such a negligeable number. And yes, if I am closer to a trash bin than a recycle bin, that is exactly where my phone will go when I upgrade next.

Please.

[Greg @ Jul 16th 2009 12:32PM]

First, although its essential that everyone know who much garbage they produce, the $$ and environmental cost of sticking a SIM card on a bunch doesn't seem worth it. All you need is garbage strike like they have here in Toronto, then everyone is well aware of how much crap we throw out by going to a local park to see the mound of garbage.

Zach you forgot to include the weight of the packaging your phone came in. And in your emissions, why don't you include the ones created by producing your phone, and transporting it from China, etc, etc. And how often will you get a new phone in your life?

People thinking they have an insignificant effect on the earth IS the problem, because there's billions of people who live for close to a hundred years who buy a lot of crap and it all adds up. You should do your best, even if it means walking down the street a bit to discard a empty can of pop in a recycling bin instead of just throwing it out because you passed a garbage.

I'm really not concerned about your convenience, but I am about the state of the earth.

[rooshma @ Jul 16th 2009 12:32PM]

@Zach
"No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible"
--Voltaire

[10minutehobo @ Jul 16th 2009 5:25PM]

Zach:

What rooshma said.

If you were living on the planet all alone, go ahead and trash it, you probably wouldn't make a difference in a million years.
But unfortunately, 6 and a half billion others are with you.

[verus2k6 @ Jul 16th 2009 9:46AM]

I bet there is alot of interest in this. I know big brother would love to start tracking your garbage. They already put GPS modules in anything you can think of so that "you can know your location at all times"... riiight. Someones sure interested in where im going and where ive been and it aint me. Thats what my memory is for, i dont need large corporatioons and government agencys documenting it for me.

Seriously imagine if the started adding crp like this to consumer products and tracked where your garbage ended up. except in their case by garbage they mean "evidence". There'll probably be some bombshell case like the OJ trial then they use this tech to "track" the location of the bloody glove and knife, cross reference it with the everywhere the suspect has been(because hes more than likely carrying something on him with GPS built in) and youve got an instant guilty verdict. It'll set the precedent of the usefulness of the tech the same way 9/11 made it so that the washington can now listen to our phonecalls and videotape us everywhere to look for "terrorist" activities.

Lol but thats just the starting point, later they'll mass market it like they do with everything and you'll have housewives and jealous lovers tracking the "location" enabled condoms they planted in your wallet to cross reference it with your excuse of where youve been vs the cellphone gps tracking(which already exists at a consumer level) to catch you in the act. When she brings up a screen on her computer showing that Condom is now showing is location status as being: 333 mockingbird lane Aka "your ex girlfriend who you supposedly stopped talking to months ago" house. LOL aint technology great?

[Wwhat @ Jul 16th 2009 11:23AM]

Here at New Veridion we find way to make YOU pay for your trash, twice, because less money is less clutter.

Incidentally, they sneaked in tracking units in people's bins in britain which was then followed by charging people for not having enough or having too much trash or for not putting it on the curb properly etcetera by city councils

I wish students would step up to their responsibility in fighting the man instead of finding new innovative ways to empower them and make this into an even bigger prisonplanet than it is already, goddamn students and their NSA crap, sigh.

[iRoc @ Jul 16th 2009 5:03PM]

Bravo! Glad I'm not the only one that actaully thinks about the reprecusions of what's to come. Far too many people are letting their desire to do good be used to advance a hiden agenda.

[Grrrl @ Jul 16th 2009 8:49AM]

wow i wrote an entire comment about this article then was prompted to check an email(that never came) to verify it before my comment could be displayed. never had this happen b4 whats up with that? funny that it also happned on a comment i made against such tech

[breeman @ Jul 16th 2009 10:15AM]

Ok, so it might take a while for the cup to break down in the landfill ... but how about the SIM card and battery !!!

[Wwhat @ Jul 16th 2009 11:24AM]

Since they can track them they can bloody well start digging and retrieve them again.

[joaquindel @ Jul 16th 2009 10:44AM]

I'm surprised how close the trash ends up to where it started.

[John @ Jul 16th 2009 11:30AM]

Think of all the extra SIM cards that are going to be made to track this trash!

[iRoc @ Jul 16th 2009 5:19PM]

Ok here is why this is complete BS! All the technologies proposed in this initiative are the most expensive to implement. While the truly effective and cheap method of thermal power generation is completely ignored. A thermal generator consists of an enclosed system filled with R134a which has a boiling point of −26.3 °C, housed in a pool of water at any temp above oh well freezing ( But which is still above the boiling point of R134a!) the water heats the R134a and it's then pressurized gas is run through a turbine to make the power. It cools down and returns to the area in the water to be heated again. Which means on any day where the temp is above freezing it makes power. The heat from the turbine can be captured and feed into the water tank to keeps it's temp above freezing. One could also use a small amount of Solar power to heat the water, or a small amount of natural gas. Or heck for those health fanatics a stationary bike with a generator. Why would large corporations ignore this form of power production? Well because the technology to produce it already exists. There are no huge government grants needed to develop it. It's also easy enough to build that anyone with moderate fabrication skills could do it. It's fact that Green house gases can raise the temp, but it's also fact that those pushing for climate change laws are the ones standing to profit from what those bills will bring about. Face it people you are being used to push an agenda that is only good for those in power, and in the business already. They are not doing it for the planet. they are doing it to get rich off of YOU! Thermal power production could be used in electric cars, but then Battery manufactures would lose out, as would those already producing the power to charge them. While we are on the subject CO2 is a huge cause of global warming right? Well isn't CO2 what plants use to breath? So the more CO2 in the air the faster, bigger and stronger plants should be growing. So to really help reduce CO2 shouldn't we be paying farmers and timber companies to plant and grow more plants? Then why are we paying them to reduce the amount they plant and grow? Oh that reason would be because the less they plant and grow , and the more forests we cut down the more CO2 builds up! The theory of global warming is correct in that the more green house gasses we release the more the temp should rise, but it's not taking in to consideration that those fighting global warming the most are the ones behind the scenes writing bills to prevent the actual reduction of CO2 levels! People you are being used, and you are happily letting yourself be used. You are not being told the whole story, nor are you stepping back and rationally thinking about the whole story. They are proposing we build huge CO2 scrubbers to remove large aounts of CO2 from the air. Well that alone is a good thing, but it's what they will do with the captured CO2 that is wrong. They want to store it in the seafloor. That is stupid. Why not build huge greenhouses for growing food, or biomatter for fuel? Oh if we did that it would actually help I see now. We would have an excess of produce, and biofuel ingredients. It would lower fuel costs. it would help aid world hunger. It would help lower green house gases. Those all sound like good things to me, but those in power pushing the climate bills would not profit from that! They would actually stand to lose huge amounts of money, and even larger amounts of ROI. ROI is return on investment. It's fact that the biggest proponent of global warming is Al Gore, well mister Gore has one of the largest personal carbon foot prints int he world, and his personal wealth has increased 5,00% since he started his global warming campaign. I'm sorry to have to tell you, but he isn't doing it for the planet. He is doing it to make more and more money. He owns a company that has made billions of oil speculation. This is fact.

In closing it's all good to want better for the planet, but face it in the present form your desire to make the world a better place is being used against you for personal gain of those in power! There are very good forms of energy that are being over looked, because they will not be profitable for those pushing change and change now! We can make fuel right here in our own back yard. We can use biofuels, and we can use biomatter to produce the oils to lubricate the cars running that biofuel. We can each at home make fuel cheaply and effectively with thermal generators. I mean we all have hot water heaters don't we? Well that little hotwater heater produces enough heat to make power enough to power your whole home. Face it the tools to fix the problem already exist, but they are not profitable for those in power, and those in business. One could take an old gasoline powered generator and easily turn it into a thermal generator relatively cheap. We could also pass law that all new homes build have a natural gas generator, because we have enough natural gas here in our hemisphere to power us for centuries, but that's not profitable for those in power, and those behind the scenes. We could aslo pass legislation to have all new homes build have a thermal generator, but that would be to esy and too cheap. If you doubt the effective ness of thermal generators know that Iceland and greenland get most of their power form them. THere are whole towns in Alaska that get power form them. Even in the dead of winter! Oh, but Alaska is a predominantly republican state so we don't hear about that. Well that and the fact that after the generator is built there is not profit to be made off of it.

One last thing if global warming is such a huge thing how come this past week is the first time this summer it's been hot here in the deep south? This is the coolest summer we've had on record in a seriously long time. Not to mention just a week or two ago people up north were still wearing jackets! It's July people. Normally here in the south it's been 100 degrees for two to three months. In no way am I saying that green house gases can not cause the global temp to rise, but I am saying people are being lied to, and the problem is being over inflated for personal gain. There are much bigger problems we as humans should be addressing. Like litter, and water contamination, and the release of carcinogens in our air, the fact that high tension power lines produce radiation that can be harmful. All these things are falling by the wayside in favor of profit from global warming propaganda. If we all produced our own power there would be no need for High tension power lines. The money it cost to put up, maintain, and upgrade them alone is staggering.

Please for the love of the planet and the future wake up, and look at things as they truly are. There is still time to fix the problems, and fix them in a way that is better for the world not just for the increase in wealth for those behind the scenes!

[norp @ Jul 17th 2009 1:15AM]

So your proposal is to harness the energy in a temperature differential of around 20deg C in water??

What do you think creates this differential? (Hint: it is all around us, or in the sky)
Guess what would be a better way of grabbing energy from it? (Hint: it is generally made of silicon and germanium)

Have you even done high school level physics?

nevermind, I read more of your post and it seems you are a giant troll.... (using car's heat instead of batteries? what?)

[iRoc @ Jul 17th 2009 2:19AM]

Love how Engadget will let people make accusations but not let people respond to them.

[iRoc @ Jul 17th 2009 2:20AM]

You call me a troll? So anyone that differs in opinion from you is a troll?

@ norp btw norp will be substituted for a word that Engadget finds offensive to 93% of the populace

Well electric motors that would be used to power an electric car will operate at well above 130 Fahrenheit that's a 116 degrees above the boiling point of r134a At peek the motors will produce heat of up to 300 Fahrenheit. Adding in the heat from the breaks and axle assemblies, both well above 130 Fahrenheit. can yield a pressure of well over 30 atmospheres. That is more than sufficient to produce enough power to maintain the charge of the batteries to at minimum quadruple the effective range.

Now for housing and commercial buildings. A Solar water heater can on cloudy days heat water to 120 Fahrenheit. That combined with the heat from the ac unit, the refrigerator, and heck even a tub of water in the back yard can power that house, and store enough in batteries to runt he house over night. Even in winter. This is not theoretical energy production. This technology is already powering hotels and a few towns in Alaska. F - ing Alaska, the coldest state int he nation, but it's not profitable to the companies biding for the next wave of energy production. Why would they not profit from it? Well that is because the technology is and has been common place for many many decades, and people are not going to shell out vast amounts for old.

You can try to insult, but I fully understand the principals and concepts involved. Even a student of high school physics should be able to understand that. Your assumption that the difference in the water would be 20 degrees is an obvious attempt to bring disinformation to the masses. Never did I say there would be no batteries in my electric car analogy. It should be common sense that batteries would have to be an intricate part of any electric vehicle. Perhaps I didn't break it down to a preschool level in which you obviously need it broken down to. Sorry you are under the misconception that only things liberal school professors that are only teaching because they can not get a job doing for lack of any real ideas, and ability to demonstrate not just regurgitate. I bet you think you are smart. I bet you probably have an IQ that is only slightly above average huh? That's the problem. At some point along the way we started telling all the children they were smart when they were only actually average, and we stopped praising and acknowledging those that are truly smart. 93% of the populace have an IQ of 88 to 109. That is a spread bordering on norp, and only kinda close to genius. 93% ! Of that 93% 1.73% are above 100. That means that in truth 91.27% of the populace are borderline norp. That's right I said retarded, did not manage to grow enough synapse to gather a collection of electrochemical remnants to show a real mastery of the information stored in their thick walled skulls. Guess what you sir have proven yourself to be one of those 91.27% Thank you for proving the point that people in that 1.73% are using people in your group to advance an agenda aimed to suck us all dry. It really doesn't bother me that you work day in and day out to make ends meet. I live quite comfortably and will continue to do so, because I let my brain do all the work. I get paid entirely too much to do what to me is mundane, and boring. I'm not part of a union. I get paid because of who I am, because people want to ride the coat tail of what my work offers them. It offers them the opportunity to say hey I could afford to pay him to do what you only wish you could get him to do for you. People use the fact that I spent a few hours of my over priced time with them, and they will permanently have that proof with them for ever! So sit back and yuck it up, but the facts are there is more energy in thin air than 93% of the populace could ever even imagine, and the fact that you can not see it or conceive it only makes me laugh. You read my post, but you couldn't even fill in the obvious blanks. You need things spelled out for you in a manner only reserved for small toddlers and retards. Thermal offers a much higher effectiveness than infrared capture and converted to electrical. The reason being the wave length between thermal and electrical is much closer than the wave length of infrared to electrical. It might appear to you as a step backwards, but it's really truly not. To prove it take you car to a parking lot of a mall late one night. Drive it around for fifteen minutes with out touch the breaks. then get out and touch your tongue to the center of the wheel. I dare you mister smart guy. Best part after your stupid monkey a $$ burns your tongue and your face or maybe your a smarter monkey closer to 100 in IQ and you only used your finger. you'll find that even after 15 minutes it's still producing heat, and thus would still be producing electricity to recharge that batteries. While your dumb a $$ is in Whole foods paying 20 times more for something that you could have bought at the farmers market, but you like people to know you shop at Whole Foods huh? Idiot There's most likely not enough gray matter in between the thick walls of your skull to get out of a wet paper bag.

They do this kewl thing in bathrooms now days where they run plastic tubes of hot water to warm the floor for winter. Well those same tubes of water in the concrete of a parking lot or the roof or your drive way would gather plenty enough thermal energy to convert into electrical energy for your house a $$ hat. Never mock what you haven't taken the time to truly ponder.

[iRoc @ Jul 17th 2009 2:25AM]

Engadet you are only blocking the response because you know it will hurt his feelings, and the information in it is true. Whack. Completely Whack. I hope at least you let the reply be sent to mister norp.

[10minutehobo @ Jul 17th 2009 10:54AM]

You can't reply to a reply.


Engadget isn't watching over your comment, trying to keep you down.

It's just their comment system sucking that's all.