Garbage Demographics William Rathje and Cullen Murphy WHAT

Garbage Demographics William Rathje and Cullen Murphy

WHAT PEOPLE REALLY DO Garbage is part of an ecosystem whose properties depend on: Weather Season Rate of growth

Garbage sampling can reveal: The percentage of households that fall victim to advertisements. Households that have stockpiles Households that buy the same product over time Households that didn’t like a product

GARBAGE TO CHECK THE CENSUS Documenting illegal aliens Household data already collected to aid the Garbage Project “Multiplier”

WHY ARCHAEOLOGISTS? Estimate population size of prehistoric cultures

THE GREAT EQUALIZER Plastic accounts for 0. 2 pounds of the 2. 1 pounds of garbage that is thrown away in a day. Equation: household size=0. 2815 xplastic NO definite way to determine proportions between men and women in a given society.

PROPORTION OF CHILDREN Average discard of toys and packages Child’s clothing

Analysis Example

Name of Artifact Description Pop Can Silver, Sprite diet Water Jug Poland Springs, gallon Water bottle Blue, green label, Poland springs Bottle Seltzer , blue label, red writing, Description: The person that produced this garbage is apparently recycling bottles used in the house. The majority of beverages that this person drinks is water. There may be a child in the house because of the smaller bottles of water.