Emotional Leftovers

ARTICLE BY BLOOMING REALITY (ELIZABETE ILSTERE, GABI ORSI, JAMIE LIM, LENI PIËCH, KARINA TSAI)

What will you do withthe remains of your sushi takeaway container?

You know that sushi you just got? What will you do with the remains of your kappa maki takeaway container? And what will happen to it after you dispose of it? What is your relationship with it? Or with which other non-humans will your container interact after it leaves your company? To find some answers, design studio Blooming Reality held its one-day ceremony ‘Trashmetery’: a concept that collides the words and practices of trash and cemetery. The ceremony was an opportunity for people to say a proper goodbye to their waste, to trigger thoughts on their emotional attachment to disposable objects, and to imagine what their afterlife could be like.

You walk up to Granary Square from King’s Cross station to have your takeaway lunch from that hip restaurant right next to the Central Saint Martins building, because the day feels warm, so why not. After you stop munching on your delicious whole-grain-rice-cucumbersushi, the moment of walking to the bin arises. As you get up from the concrete bench you see people dressed in black; a table set for a funeral – which seems odd. The signs say: ‘Say a proper good-bye!’ followed by: ‘Trashmetery’. You may be asking yourself what is this about? When you stop to question, the response comes, trash + metery, a concept that collides the words and practices of trash and cemetery. But in the world of the normal this is madness – who has ever held a trash funeral?

Waste is something so overlooked, yet so personal. On a daily basis, individuals somehow have a particular relationship with the waste they create. Cutlery may touch your lips more often than a loved one. And why is everyone wasting these emotions?

This funeral setting is starting to make sense. The people dressed in black are Karina (the detail spotter), Gabi (the tender coordinator), Leni (the reality challenger), Jamie (the magical realist), and Eli (the idea connector). They ask you to fill in a form before you throw your disposable food container away. In the form is a section suggesting ceremonial music for the food container funeral: you can choose between Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees, We’re made of stars by Moby, or Because of you by Kelly Clarkson. Worth a laugh. It continues by asking where your waste is from, what would its name be, what kind of relationship you had with the objects, what next life you’d award them, and finally what you’d do if you had to keep them for your whole life. Questions answered, you lean forward to the centre of the table and one of the participants opens the silver bin, a loud voice says: ‘WELCOME TO THE AFTERLIFE’. You stretch out your arm and drop the packaging into its coffin. You remember this action for the rest of your life – no emotional leftovers here.

In your mind you might be thinking this is nuts, however, when asked, the studio swears by ontology, which they explain is a field that studies notions of being. This branch of philosophy brings about a particular theory about the nature of being or the kinds of things that have existence. Therefore, the studio embraces notions of care towards all things by giving a voice to objects that speak in non-human languages – often too subtle for one to hear.

Blooming Reality’s members have been on a journey that led them to meet in an innovation management project as part of their masters program. They started up this project by exploring the discourses of waste and finding a niche area to dwell in to solve a client brief that asked for innovative solutions for reaching recycling targets for the next decade. Who would think that interesting insights could arise from a simple, fun, and brief design experience. When immersed in the exercise, people felt at ease to re-think their habits and biases towards waste management project.

Recording and noticing the participants, the studio settled into an unexpected strategy for the client. One that initiates conversations with both the users and the materials. Trashmetery is more than just an experiment, it was the window for the studio to reflect upon the relationships between materials and trash, emotional attachments to objects and personal lifestyle. It also acted as the bridge to present the idea to the public and make them think more carefully about their relationship with waste.

Trashmetery gives you the opportunity to take a pause to reflect while you goodbye to your sushi takeaway container. A method to reconsider the form trash is socially viewed. Although it might not stay with us for too long, trash is something personal and therefore emotional, and should be viewed as such. Throwing away the unwanted should not be an easy action. Get back into the ‘trash-met-eorological’ mindset and take a moment to emotionally connect with your leftovers, so no emotions will be left-over.

Further reading Morton, T. (2018) Being Ecological. Escobar, A. (2018) Designs For The Pluriverse. Hawkins, G. (2001) ‘Plastic bags: Living with rubbish’, International Journal of Cultural Studies. Willis, A. (2006) Ontological Designing. Design Philosophy Papers, 4(2), pp. 69-92.