Trashformation

Marina Avouri, Varvara Kourti

When does the flow of an object end? The flow of materiality does not stop in the trash bin. Objects can change users and form before ending up in the landfill. During this process the material flow interacts with others, both social and economical.Today's massive waste production has a lot to do with our over consuming way of life. The more we buy the more waste we produce. Furthermore the need of constant technological update ends the life of many devices before their utilitarian death. However "trash" does not belong to us and it does not have to do with us in any way. The landfill is a remote endless dystopian place away from our everyday life. Our intention is to create a framework of waste management of Attica throughout different scales. Using the neighborhood of Metaxourgeio as an example base, we identify 4 types of public spaces. These places will host the acts of sorting waste and exchanging objects according to a time based system. In this way "discarding trash" transforms into an environment friendly social act through the city center.In a larger scale sorted waste will be driven to the coastal industries of Elefsina. A network between some new infrastructure of waste processing and the existing infrastructure will be created. The products of this network will feed back the city center, weakening the flow of waste that gets buried in Fyli landfill. As a result we activate a material flow between Athens and the coast of Attica.