Truth in Design II : Waarmakers I

Part two on this weeks series on truth in design is this ridiculously simple yet ingenious product. There probably isn't a product consumers think less about than their choice of garbage bag. Something sturdy, something that fits, then its out of sight, out of mind just like anything we might put inside it. Not so for this design from Waarmakers design studio out of the Netherlands: a garbage bag that does not hide its contents. Conceived as a way of reusing items that one would normally throw away, the idea is that someone who wants to leave an old product out on the corner as a freebie could put it in this clear bag to protect it from the elements. I think this product, with its bold design and simple strip of transparency, could be applied in a broader sense, allowing the general public to take a hard look into the face of their refuse once a week on trash day. I think that if every week we had to walk by piles of bags that literally showed the ridiculous quantities of paper, plastic, and general packaging that is consistently thrown out without care in developed countries, there might be a greater push or movement towards reducing waste and introducing legislation to make this more of a requirement. This would also open a market for designers that are trying to find more sustainable ways of packaging consumer goods. As Bill Nye explains in this short video, the earth is a closed system. As much as we would love to blast out trash out into space, it is here to stay.

http://www.waarmakers.nl/projects/goedzak#intro-1