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After 4 Years Of Not Throwing Away His Trash This Photographer Created A Powerful Photo Series
Back in 2011, photographer Antoine Repessé stopped throwing away his recyclable trash to make a point. Four years later he started turning that point into a powerful photo series he called '#365 Unpacked', which challenges us to rethink our role as consumers.
During the 4 year period, the Lille-based artist has accumulated over 70 cubic metres of trash: 1,600 milk bottles, 4,800 toilet rolls, and 800 kg (~1,750 lb) of newspapers, all of which he then separated for an even stronger visual impact: "I wanted to give an aesthetic dimension to my work,” he explains. “The choice of sorting the garbage gives a graphic effect. I tried to produce a perfect picture which evokes something disturbing.”
With his series, Antoine tackles the main obstacle for kickstarting the big changes in waste management or global warming – it’s how invisible these problems are in our day-to-day lives: “We’re often told about the quantity of waste we produce, but I think the impact of a picture can be more powerful than a ton of words,” remarks Repessé. “I hope my project can inspire change,” - and so do we.
More info: Antoine Repessé | facebook (h/t: featureshoot, demilked)
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That's probably all the cigarettes my grandfather has smoked. That's a lot of money you could have saved, grandpa.
It's not just the waste plastic here, but the effect of all those chemicals that we should worry about.
Some of them are bundles of the same magazine / newspaper stacked up together XD you can still see the plastic strapping on some of them!
"Art is a lie that tells the truth" -Picasso. Did the image make you think about how much waste you create despite it being recyclable? If yes then good. If no, you missed the intent of the piece, but I hope you managed to at least take something of value out of it.
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If he's worried about being green maybe he could have gone to the library and used their magazine or an online version.
I've actually been to a recycling plant for papers and magazines and seen brand new, 'like' piles of publications like this ready for sorting and pulping...might simply have been unsold?
that does not look like enough flyer trash -- even though I have a NO FLYER sticker on my mailbox I get 2 plastic bags a week with the insipid waste of energy and resources....... If I kept mine for 6 months I would have more than that.....
I hope the newspapers and magazines were donated to a library or school. then recycled.
If upstairs wait until the ceiling collope's and he ends up on his kisser on the floor below.
Maybe those bundled together were issues he had articles in and wanted to have some for promotion/archiving...
4800 toiIet-paper roIIs in 4 years? He's either fuII of sh*t...Or he's fuII of sh*t, if you catch my drift.
4 years = 208 weeks, and 4,800 rolls of toilet paper equal 23.07 rolls per week -- I call shenanigans on his claim that he "stopped throwing away his recyclable trash to make a point. " He had to enlist a number of other people for his "collection" Yes, we should recycle, but at least be honest about the process of how he came about the materials
Yea, I have four kids and I calculate that my whole family uses about half that in a four-year period. If he generated double a family of six in the same time period, he may want to start drinking some kefir. Like, a lot of kefir.
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You seem not understanding point of this. So here am I to explain. Trash we use in our daily lives, invisible to us, collects on other places, and pollutes environment.
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Lauren Towner noticed, that in the newspapers picture there are bundles of the same magazine stacked up - even with the plastic strap there. So the idea is fine, just why say "I've been collecting 4 years worth of garbage" instead of "I staged to show what it could look like"? :/
This is clearly staged. Be that as it may, the fundamental message is we produce a lot, a lot of garbage. Even with recycling, it's a lot. We can make purchasing decisions in our daily lives to reduce as much as we reasonably can - buying bulk, buying larger containers where feasible, refill to smaller, washable containers, use washable containers instead of throw-away Ziploc type of bags, buy foods that have less packaging, etc.
Some of the photos are believable, others are not. I don't believe he smoked that much in 4 years, or used that many cleaning products, and the obvious use of still-bundled magazines is a blatant violation of our trust. If you want to expose how much waste humans generate, fine, I'm all for it. But don't condescend, and don't LIE.
Why would anyone not throw trash away? And where did she store it? Either fake or she's nuts
#7 Both of them are holding controllers and actively attempting to play. That is clearly a one-player game
And water bottles? Gamers don't drink water...C'MON! It's Mountain Dew or Dr. Pepper!!!
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I think the trolls commenting on this story did not actually read it. Why are people so dumb?
The point is being lost slightly, does it matter if it's believable for 4 years recycling. It's that we consume too much, we have few choices of how to receive our goods - it would be great if shops had places where you could refill rather than buy again. The companies should be thinking about that, Unilever, the other big brands - it would be so much better than to recycle as that in itself costs huge amounts and uses so much energy etc. We need to get a grip as a world before we totally ruin it. Rant over. Great images......nice to see someone doing some poignant, meaningful art. If you're interested in developing a portfolio for art college on ideas of social issues/current affairs then take a look at our new online mentoring programme to get you into art college. https://www.portfolio-oomph.com/online-portfolio-preparation-course/ course-ima...6efe63.jpg 
The point is he is trying to make a point. It is of course staged. If it was a family of four it is very possible.
You can just recycle. I do it really doesn't take that much more time if you have the proper containers all lined out. In my area they pick it up once every two weeks. So all I have two do is have them in different bags. I have 7 people living in my house I really don't throw away that much. I can even put out leftover for the animals if I want to feed them.
So fake. It would be cool as an art project but don't lie and say it's real. Look how clean every room is & packages look brand new.
It could have been nice, but there is too much b******t in this. 3.3 roll a day? WTF?! Thiis photographer don't have any time to take photos, he s**t all the time. Just not accurate to take in considération.
The plastic bottles would have started to discolor in this time period. While dramatic these photos are fake.
At arts college a friend collected all the packaging from a week of living, weigh it and produced a picture of the trash using coloured wax of the same total weight. Same commentary on consumption, 20 years ago.
Still have it on my wall. Awesome & beautiful piece.
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Even if this examle is exaggerated, we all know how much Waste we produce, it is still a lot. And this is just not right. This is in no way appropiate. But while everybody knows that (or should know that), nobody is willing to change it without getting handed a proper alternative. And that is where the companies should take the initiative, once and for all. Honestly they should be forced to do so, because they have the biggest influence and naturally care the least about the consequences of their methods.
I'd like to see a woman surrounded by all the plastic tampon applicators she uses in a year, if she uses such things. IMO, it is criminally thoughtless to cause all that plastic to be manufactured and "disposed of" (buried in a landfill for hundreds of years while nature tries to break it down) for such a trivial and short-lived use. Cardboard if you must (it's just as smooth as the plastic) or even better, get over yourself prissy self and use OB.
OB doesn't work for everyone. Why don't you just use a cup or rewash old rags? Don't tell me how to bleed.
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Time-out everybody!! Firstly, very little of this is 'waste' (as-in 'landfill waste,' with the possible exception of the milk-cartons). The water-bottles are certainly 'wasteful' unless the tap-water is non-potable. The cardboard tubes, boxes, magazines, and plastic containers are all completely recyclable. If you recycled everything that was recyclable (including the cardboard from the cigarette packs) there would be very-little left. Some of the food packaging is multi-layer composite material that isn't recyclable, but fold that flat, gather the butts and it will surely be less than 1 cubic yard (or meter). When I take out my garbage the weekly amount is usually 1/2 can of recyclables, 2 little bags of kitchen/bathroom landfill stuff, and 1 bag of cat poop.
The toilet paper tubes and newspapers can be composted with some food waste or grass clippings or what have you to grow food naturally and probably reduce the number of boxed foods he's consuming that aren't all that good for him anyway. The water bottles can be reduced by simply buying a reusable water bottle and, if you live in the city or area with poor water, a good water filter. The other plastic bottles could be repurposed or recycled or simply reduced by using something like "soap nuts" that can be used for a variety of purposes that most people buy multiple different products for (hand soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, general cleaner). At least there are no piles of plastic grocery bags in the pictures. I hope that means he's using reusable bags. I get that the series is about recyclable trash. As others have mentioned, recycling can be problematic in itself, so not only should we not be throwing away recyclables, we should be reducing our demand for overall them.
Er, that should be "we should be reducing our overall demand for them". Not sure how I got that mixed around. Sorry. Reduce, reuse, recycle! ^_^
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It is though. Even if it is recyclable, it used a lot of energy to 1) produce these things and packaging, 2) recycle them to turn them into something else or reuse them. A very small amount of what can be recyclable is actually recycled. Recycling is a good thing but it's a second step - to fix damage that's already been done. Like putting a plaster on a wound: a positive step but it doesn't mean no damage was done.
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People keep saying that we are missing the point. If you want to make a valid point on human consumption and waste, stop lying to get there! Could have made the point without lying from the start. So now that people are focused on the lie, the point gets thrown out the window. Just read the comments.
Yes, account for stupid people when creating your art. Wrong.
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Though the idea is good, what he wanted to show. but the write up is complete fake, none of the waste looked aged, all of them looked the same age. In one week the waste degrades, here all the waste look so fresh.
1,600 milk bottles/4 = 400 milk bottles a year/12 = 33.3 a month = one milk bottle a day?! Who drinks that much milk that consistently
who doesn't go through 3 rolls of TP a day? I poop three times a day and i don't have time to "unravel" those pesky rolls. Grab a roll and wipe. Then give a quarter turn and wipe again. Repeat if necessary. Simply flush the whole roll down the toilet. It works great every time!
Well, after this photo shoot, the garbage truck is gonna be full of garbage from his house...,
4 years is a long time. Seems like it would have been easier to calculate the trash and collect it for the project from many people.
If you knew you would have your trash sitting around for 4 years, you would probably clean it thoroughly so it wouldn't be super gross.
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Photoshop would have been easier, less messy, and still made the glaringly obvious point
photoshop wouldnt really be the truth. it makes more of a point because what we're seeing is what he actually consumed, y'know?
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4 years = 208 weeks, and 4,800 rolls of toilet paper equal 23.07 rolls per week -- I call shenanigans on his claim that he "stopped throwing away his recyclable trash to make a point. " He had to enlist a number of other people for his "collection" Yes, we should recycle, but at least be honest about the process of how he came about the materials
Yea, I have four kids and I calculate that my whole family uses about half that in a four-year period. If he generated double a family of six in the same time period, he may want to start drinking some kefir. Like, a lot of kefir.
Load More Replies... You seem not understanding point of this. So here am I to explain. Trash we use in our daily lives, invisible to us, collects on other places, and pollutes environment.
Load More Replies... Lauren Towner noticed, that in the newspapers picture there are bundles of the same magazine stacked up - even with the plastic strap there. So the idea is fine, just why say "I've been collecting 4 years worth of garbage" instead of "I staged to show what it could look like"? :/
This is clearly staged. Be that as it may, the fundamental message is we produce a lot, a lot of garbage. Even with recycling, it's a lot. We can make purchasing decisions in our daily lives to reduce as much as we reasonably can - buying bulk, buying larger containers where feasible, refill to smaller, washable containers, use washable containers instead of throw-away Ziploc type of bags, buy foods that have less packaging, etc.
Some of the photos are believable, others are not. I don't believe he smoked that much in 4 years, or used that many cleaning products, and the obvious use of still-bundled magazines is a blatant violation of our trust. If you want to expose how much waste humans generate, fine, I'm all for it. But don't condescend, and don't LIE.
Why would anyone not throw trash away? And where did she store it? Either fake or she's nuts
#7 Both of them are holding controllers and actively attempting to play. That is clearly a one-player game
And water bottles? Gamers don't drink water...C'MON! It's Mountain Dew or Dr. Pepper!!!
Load More Replies... I think the trolls commenting on this story did not actually read it. Why are people so dumb?
The point is being lost slightly, does it matter if it's believable for 4 years recycling. It's that we consume too much, we have few choices of how to receive our goods - it would be great if shops had places where you could refill rather than buy again. The companies should be thinking about that, Unilever, the other big brands - it would be so much better than to recycle as that in itself costs huge amounts and uses so much energy etc. We need to get a grip as a world before we totally ruin it. Rant over. Great images......nice to see someone doing some poignant, meaningful art. If you're interested in developing a portfolio for art college on ideas of social issues/current affairs then take a look at our new online mentoring programme to get you into art college. https://www.portfolio-oomph.com/online-portfolio-preparation-course/ course-ima...6efe63.jpg
The point is he is trying to make a point. It is of course staged. If it was a family of four it is very possible.
You can just recycle. I do it really doesn't take that much more time if you have the proper containers all lined out. In my area they pick it up once every two weeks. So all I have two do is have them in different bags. I have 7 people living in my house I really don't throw away that much. I can even put out leftover for the animals if I want to feed them.
So fake. It would be cool as an art project but don't lie and say it's real. Look how clean every room is & packages look brand new.
It could have been nice, but there is too much b******t in this. 3.3 roll a day? WTF?! Thiis photographer don't have any time to take photos, he s**t all the time. Just not accurate to take in considération.
The plastic bottles would have started to discolor in this time period. While dramatic these photos are fake.
At arts college a friend collected all the packaging from a week of living, weigh it and produced a picture of the trash using coloured wax of the same total weight. Same commentary on consumption, 20 years ago.
Still have it on my wall. Awesome & beautiful piece.
Load More Replies... Even if this examle is exaggerated, we all know how much Waste we produce, it is still a lot. And this is just not right. This is in no way appropiate. But while everybody knows that (or should know that), nobody is willing to change it without getting handed a proper alternative. And that is where the companies should take the initiative, once and for all. Honestly they should be forced to do so, because they have the biggest influence and naturally care the least about the consequences of their methods.
I'd like to see a woman surrounded by all the plastic tampon applicators she uses in a year, if she uses such things. IMO, it is criminally thoughtless to cause all that plastic to be manufactured and "disposed of" (buried in a landfill for hundreds of years while nature tries to break it down) for such a trivial and short-lived use. Cardboard if you must (it's just as smooth as the plastic) or even better, get over yourself prissy self and use OB.
OB doesn't work for everyone. Why don't you just use a cup or rewash old rags? Don't tell me how to bleed.
Load More Replies... Time-out everybody!! Firstly, very little of this is 'waste' (as-in 'landfill waste,' with the possible exception of the milk-cartons). The water-bottles are certainly 'wasteful' unless the tap-water is non-potable. The cardboard tubes, boxes, magazines, and plastic containers are all completely recyclable. If you recycled everything that was recyclable (including the cardboard from the cigarette packs) there would be very-little left. Some of the food packaging is multi-layer composite material that isn't recyclable, but fold that flat, gather the butts and it will surely be less than 1 cubic yard (or meter). When I take out my garbage the weekly amount is usually 1/2 can of recyclables, 2 little bags of kitchen/bathroom landfill stuff, and 1 bag of cat poop.
The toilet paper tubes and newspapers can be composted with some food waste or grass clippings or what have you to grow food naturally and probably reduce the number of boxed foods he's consuming that aren't all that good for him anyway. The water bottles can be reduced by simply buying a reusable water bottle and, if you live in the city or area with poor water, a good water filter. The other plastic bottles could be repurposed or recycled or simply reduced by using something like "soap nuts" that can be used for a variety of purposes that most people buy multiple different products for (hand soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, general cleaner). At least there are no piles of plastic grocery bags in the pictures. I hope that means he's using reusable bags. I get that the series is about recyclable trash. As others have mentioned, recycling can be problematic in itself, so not only should we not be throwing away recyclables, we should be reducing our demand for overall them.
Er, that should be "we should be reducing our overall demand for them". Not sure how I got that mixed around. Sorry. Reduce, reuse, recycle! ^_^
Load More Replies... It is though. Even if it is recyclable, it used a lot of energy to 1) produce these things and packaging, 2) recycle them to turn them into something else or reuse them. A very small amount of what can be recyclable is actually recycled. Recycling is a good thing but it's a second step - to fix damage that's already been done. Like putting a plaster on a wound: a positive step but it doesn't mean no damage was done.
Load More Replies... People keep saying that we are missing the point. If you want to make a valid point on human consumption and waste, stop lying to get there! Could have made the point without lying from the start. So now that people are focused on the lie, the point gets thrown out the window. Just read the comments.
Yes, account for stupid people when creating your art. Wrong.
Load More Replies... Though the idea is good, what he wanted to show. but the write up is complete fake, none of the waste looked aged, all of them looked the same age. In one week the waste degrades, here all the waste look so fresh.
1,600 milk bottles/4 = 400 milk bottles a year/12 = 33.3 a month = one milk bottle a day?! Who drinks that much milk that consistently
who doesn't go through 3 rolls of TP a day? I poop three times a day and i don't have time to "unravel" those pesky rolls. Grab a roll and wipe. Then give a quarter turn and wipe again. Repeat if necessary. Simply flush the whole roll down the toilet. It works great every time!
Well, after this photo shoot, the garbage truck is gonna be full of garbage from his house...,
4 years is a long time. Seems like it would have been easier to calculate the trash and collect it for the project from many people.
If you knew you would have your trash sitting around for 4 years, you would probably clean it thoroughly so it wouldn't be super gross.
Load More Replies... Photoshop would have been easier, less messy, and still made the glaringly obvious point
photoshop wouldnt really be the truth. it makes more of a point because what we're seeing is what he actually consumed, y'know?
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