Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Garbology, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Hidden Costs of Waste
Consumerism vs. Conservation
The Power of Individuals
Money and Politics
Summary
Analysis
In 2011 Niki Ulehla was the artist-in-residence at a San Francisco garbage dump, working on trash to create scenes from Dante’s Inferno. The artist program at the dump, run by Deborah Munk, started in 1990 as a novelty but quickly became popular and was widely copied. The timing ended up being perfect, since the year before, California had passed a law mandating that local governments divert half of their waste from landfills. This led to increased popularity in the idea of recycling, which the artist-in-residence programs helped promote.
The whole section about the artist-in-residence program at the San Francisco dump shows that, when given the opportunity, people can actually enjoy learning more about garbage. The point is not literally to solve the trash crisis by turning it into art but instead to get people to rethink waste in general by viewing it in an unfamiliar setting.
Themes
In 2011, a Bay Area waste company called Recology (which supports the artist-in-residence program) had contracts for recycling resources and other waste services in 50 communities across the West Coast. It was one of the 10 largest employee-owned companies in the country and also one of the country’s biggest organic composters (boosted by San Francisco’s decision to accept compost at curbside bins).
The story of Recology complicates the story of the artist-in-residence program. While in some ways the company made a positive impact on the city of San Francisco, in other ways, its need to make a profit restricted what it could do to help the garbage crisis.
Themes
For Recology, recycling is profitable, and at one point, the company got a court injunction to stop independent recyclers from scavenging bins before Recology could pick them up. Recology’s ability to pay for itself was important not only for the company but for the green image of San Francisco itself. In 2010, San Francisco claimed to divert 77 percent of trash from landfills through recycling and composting programs like Recology’s. The city planned for zero waste to landfills by 2020.
The dark side of Recology’s work was that it could give people a false sense of accomplishment, when in fact the garbage crisis was far from solved. This downside doesn’t necessarily mean that companies like Recology don’t work; it simply suggests that they need to be part of a larger cultural shift in order to avoid having their positive impact offset by a new negative impact.
Themes
Deborah Munk’s job, which included directing the San Francisco dump artist-in-residence program, was about changing how people thought about waste. Her previous career was as a high-end clothing buyer, where she saw firsthand the consequences of consumer culture. She got involved with the residence program after she had a chance meeting with a former professor who ran it.
Like Pritchard, Munk’s involvement with waste management happened through chance. While the book celebrates their unique resourcefulness, it also suggests that many seemingly average people could achieve similar things if given the opportunity.
Themes
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As the artist-in-residence program matured, it expanded out to different kinds of artists, including painters, videographers, musicians, and even puppeteers. New artists often fear that they’ll never find the materials they need at the dump, but they always seem to find a way. Their work shows that plenty of waste isn’t as trashy or useless as it seems.
The idea of finding a use for waste would be a dream come true for waste management people. While turning it into art isn’t a good solution at a mass scale, this example shows how a different technique, such as waste-to-energy plants, could find a better use for trash.
Themes
