The Garbage We Consume | June 2021

Convenience and low prices are what draw people to fast food, as well as how delicious it tastes. Something that’s not so delicious is the amount of waste that a single fast-food meal produces. As someone who has a passion for nature, it is hard to watch companies produce excessive amounts of trash. Once the paper that restaurants use gets covered in grease, which it almost always does, it is no longer recyclable. The majority of this waste ends up in landfills, damaging our planet’s health.

Inspired by Gregg Segal’s 7 Days of Garbage, this work shows the before and after of a fast-food meal and the trash it leaves behind. After the consumer has finished their meal they will move on, but the packaging will stick around. While the before images focus on the food, the viewer won’t be able to escape the trash filling a large portion of the frame. In the after images, with the food gone, it is apparent that the garbage is the main subject. This trash is left behind to rot and poison our planet. I want this body of work to spark a conversation about being mindful of the waste we consume as a society, and encouraging companies to implement packaging that is more environmentally friendly. This is our planet and we are responsible for taking care of it.