Wa$ted! Drink Your Vodka And Save The Planet

Originally I intended to make fun of the environmental movement, but I ended up becoming one of “them.” I’m not really into turning people into hemp-wearing vegans living in yurts; my goal and the goal of Wa$ted is to take each household and reduce the amount of its waste. We’re trying to save people money and, in the process, we’re being very kind to the planet…saving some green by going a little green.

Garbage Tourism

Every day a landfill closes in this country. I had this real watershed moment when I got permission from my local waste management company to ride along with my garbage collector and take my garbage to its final resting place, which is the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Los Angeles.

That landfill receives 8,000 tonnes of garbage a day, some of which is mine. I deposit my body weight in garbage every 20-something days. We all have to lose a lot of weight, or we have a real problem.

Throwing things away is a really unconscious act for most of us. When you actually see it for yourself, it makes a huge impact. The average American in our disposable society creates 4.5 pounds of garbage a day without even realizing it. We need to think about that.

Frat House Gone Green

Wa$ted went into 10 households. One of them was a fraternity house in Newark, New Jersey. The guys there really needed to save some money, and they were living in total eco-squalor.

These guys didn’t even realize their neighbourhood had recycling. They had 2,000 empty cans of beer in their backyard! It was absolutely nuts. So, we got them recycling.