French photographer Anthony Ripais started hoarding daily waste recycled at home in order to prove how much garbage the modern consumer society brings. Four years later, Anthony used a camera to show the world his research results. Similarly, Greg Siegel from California, USA, also used the camera to record the speed of a person’s production of trash in a week.
We are facing an environmental disaster. For today’s earth, garbage is one of the biggest threats, among which plastic garbage is the biggest hidden danger. Plastics cannot be degraded by themselves, nor can they be degraded by other organisms. Waste plastics can only be treated by combustion, and the harmful gases produced by combustion pollute the air. According to research, the harm caused by plastic mulch to the ecological environment is more serious. The discarded mulch film remaining in the soil hardens the soil, causing great difficulties for farming and seeding. The problem of waste plastics polluting the environment has aroused the attention of all countries, and many countries have taken preventive measures.
Approximately 8 million tons of plastic waste enters the ocean every year, threatening marine life and human health. Human beings use a lot of plastic products every day, and it should be considered that its existence is reasonable. A large amount of plastic waste is transferred to the ocean. Once the ocean is polluted, any organisms that breathe oxygen will have trouble. At present, the global production of plastic exceeds 300 million tons, half of which are disposable. It is estimated that nearly 10 million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year.
If 300 million tons of plastic enter the ocean, except for weather changes, human food, leisure methods, transportation and everything else will be destroyed.
But the first thing to bear is the health problems of humans and animals. Chemical substances entering the food chain may cause infertility, cancer, autoimmune system problems, endocrine disorders, behavior problems in developing children, and fetal development problems. A lot of plastic in the sea is eventually eaten by animals, and 90% of seabirds have eaten plastic. What is even more frightening is the formation of a non-degradable “garbage island”.
In 2011, a large amount of garbage was generated after the Japanese tsunami, forming a “garbage island”, which is now drifting to the west coast of the United States, which may weigh more than 1 million tons. The American media referred to this “garbage island” as a “toxic monster”. It is now 1,700 miles from the coast and continues to absorb floating garbage around it.
In 2011, Anthony worked as a photographer at the Armentière Town Hall located on the outskirts of Lille. His friends and colleagues, about 200 people, helped him collect garbage. He hadn’t thrown out any recyclable garbage in 4 years before finishing the shooting. At the end of the filming work in 2015, Anthony had collected about 70 cubic meters of garbage, including 1,600 milk cartons, 4,800 toilet paper rolls, and 800 kg of old newspapers, as well as plastic bottles, shampoo bottles, cleaning supplies, etc. Lots of other debris garbage.
Anthony said: “I classified the garbage collected in detail, trying to take a perfect picture.” Antoine hopes that his photos can make people think about waste and global warming, and urges humans to review consumer attitudes and renew Thinking about the attitude of blind consumption and waste, prompting mankind to re-choose the way of consumption, thereby changing the ecological environment of the entire planet. He said: “We often talk about the amount of garbage generated by humans, but in my opinion, a photo is far more convincing than 1,000 words. I hope my work can inspire people to make changes!”
Before collecting garbage, Anthony I have already figured out what to do with the garbage after the shooting. In the process of continuous collection, he also began to be surprised by the amount of garbage he produced: “I have to admit, I didn’t expect it to accumulate so much. Although the more garbage, the better my work will be. When you put the same When the shapes of garbage are piled up together, they seem to become completely different things, as shown in my photos.”
Anthony put these garbage in his home. He has a spacious duplex apartment. Anthony said: “At first I just put the garbage on the ground and arranged them in separate piles. But soon they’grew up’. I put them in a plastic bag and piled them in the corner. By the end of the collection, all of my house ‘S rooms are full of garbage bags.”
At first, Dantoni’s main reason for starting this garbage collection program was that he wanted to learn how to cook. “My cooking skills are terrible, so I always heat the frozen food in the refrigerator in the microwave. But frozen food will create a lot of garbage.” He said, “Not only will it create more garbage, we have to help them Pay twice. The first time is to buy it in the store, the second time is to pay for collection and recycling when sorting the packaging. Sometimes the packaging is much more expensive than the product itself. Take the coffee machine capsule as an example, you know us Is it necessary to spend several times the money buying coffee to dispose of the leftover garbage? I think this is very unreasonable. Collecting garbage makes me more soberly aware that we are not doing enough to protect the environment.”
During the shooting, Anthony prepared very carefully. “I did not write a story about the protagonist of the photo and the toilet paper tube or milk jug under my photo. But during the shooting, I carefully determined that every detail of the shooting scene was consistent with my subject. For example, the photo The book that the girl reads in the toilet is also specially arranged. It is a magazine related to garbage recycling.” Anthony said, “It sometimes takes 10 hours to prepare and shoot the picture. Because I have to transport the garbage by truck and send it to the shooting scene. , Choose the angle, adjust the light, shoot, and finally collect all the garbage and transport it home.”
There is always only one type of garbage in Anthony’s photos, such as thousands of newspapers, countless bottles or cans of the same size. He explained: “I will recycle garbage selectively. In my trash can you can find garbage of various materials: plastic, metal, glass and paper. I deliberately only photograph the garbage of the same material so that they can be The environment is consistent with the subject matter.” After
taking this group of photos, Anthony himself has gained a lot. “I devoted myself to the shooting. Physically, I lived in trash for 4 years; mentally, I really felt the seriousness of trash polluting the environment. We can no longer ignore human faults.” Anthony said.
After the shooting, where did Anthony’s 70 cubic meters of garbage finally go? He said: “I really want to throw the garbage directly on the garbage truck, but the cleaners disagree, so I have to re-sort the “babies” I have accumulated. I give milk cartons to those They cut out different shapes of artists, and gave soda cans to the Sheet Metal Workers Association for publicity and education work to show people the importance of reducing household waste. I gave the rest to the garbage recycling company, my “collectibles” All have been recycled and reused.”
Anthony hopes that his work can make people alert: “Classifying garbage can bring aesthetic visual effects to photos. I hope people will have very complex emotions after seeing them. Many People think that I am definitely a photographer who likes to be curious, but in fact it is not. For me, photography is a way of expressing myself. I care about the environment in which people live, and I don’t like shooting landscapes where no one is. Recently, I I am shooting people from Tiggan who live in France and Romania. Generally speaking, I am a “photojournalist”. I like to give my photos a variety of languages, no matter what language you speak and what kind of education you have. Read’my pictures.’
This is the amount of garbage you produce in a week!
”The road to civilization is paved with tins.” Italy Alberto Moravia once commented on the garbage issue. In fact, this is indeed the case. The faster the human development process, the more garbage will be produced, which will eventually cause the environment to be quickly filled with all kinds of garbage. Greg Siegel from California, USA is one of the photographers who are very concerned about environmental issues. He used his lens to show how quickly a person produces trash a week and took a set of shocking photos calling for environmental protection. The photo is entitled “Trash of the Week”.
You will be very surprised to see this group of photos. Most of these rubbish are made by a large family, but one person also made it. The garbage includes food that has expired.
In order to show the possible scale of the upcoming disaster year, the photographer invited people of different social identities, including his friends or neighbors, as well as environmentalists from all walks of life. Greg agreed with each person who appeared on the film not to throw out trash for a week, collect them, and then take them to the shooting site to spread all the trash on the ground.
Different rubbish reflects the living habits of different people. No wonder archaeologists are so excited when they discover the prehistoric rubbish pile. In modern times, garbage can also tell us about the lifestyle or occupation of the garbage maker. The photographer arranges the trash like a bed, allowing people to lie on it, ignoring the unpleasant smell of trash.
Greghi said that if people can’t restrain the rhythm of production, they should consume as much as possible. He believes that everyone must work hard to reduce the production of garbage, or at least to classify the garbage, inaction will only make the environment worse.
