Rubbish stories

Here you can find snapshots of interesting days in my waste management career and find out how I got into waste management in the first place.

July 2021: Since the pandemic started all of my work has been online, video calls don't make good stories. The most exciting thing that happened recently was in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. I approached a security guard at a landfill - the only waste management facility on the island. I wanted to say 'I can see a big pile of plastic furniture there - is that for recycling?', but he only listened to the first couple of words in my broken Spanish and mistook it for 'can I see?'. 'Sure, go see whatever you want,' he replied. I walked in, I was the only person in the whole landfill apart from the security guard. I walked up to the very top of the rubbish pile and had a good look around. This was my first time in a landfill with no protective equipment, I'm sure it's not the last.

2019-11-22 · My first ever visit to a landfill

It was already Thursday afternoon, I had to catch my flight on Monday and I started to accept the fact that I'll leave Mexico without gaining access to a landfill. As I was biting into my "tamales con tofu" (probably not the most typical Mexican dish), my phone buzzed with a message from a guy I met at a sustainable entrepreneurship conference - "Can you come at noon? Tomorrow." He sent me the GPS coordinates of where I should go and instructed me to ask for Pedro when I arrive. Keep reading >

2019-11-15 · A white garbage truck with pink flowers

Today was the day. I left my place without my backpack. I left my sunglasses behind too, not to look like a tourist too much. Not knowing how long my adventure will be, I started by stuffing myself in my local vegetarian restaurant. Then I headed towards the central part of Coyoacan. I looked up "waste management system" in Spanish in my dictionary, just in case. Keep reading >

2019-11-14 · How I got into waste management

What did you believe in as a kid? Santa Claus? Magic fairies? I believed in a trash can. Whenever something was broken or old my mum would always say "just put it in the trash can". No matter what, it was always the easiest solution. We would take a bag of trash to the big bin behind our apartment building. From there it magically disappeared. Keep reading >