Arriving and Surviving

Eco-design expert and Dumped guru, Rob Holdway, gives you the lowdown on our volunteers, rubbish and waste and Dumped.

How did you imagine the volunteers would react to the landfill at first?

As time approached to ship the volunteers to the dump, I began to wonder how the group would react to being told they would be living on a landfill for the three weeks.  It’s not something I or they could really prepare for. I felt excited and also a bit nervous. Would they all WALK? Would they be angry? Wasn’t sure. I thought that Selena and Lawrence both self confessed eco-warriors would react ok. Sasha and Aaron were predictably emotional about the prospect. Sasha nearly broke down in tears. YET, they all immediately understood what this challenge was about, except Jermaine who didn’t even know landfills existed!

Would you volunteer to live on a dump for three weeks?

No. Who wants to live off others people shit – literally (2% of landfill consists of used nappies) – for three weeks. However, I do believe this experiment was massively important in highlighting our wasteful culture of indulgence and excess. Not much of a legacy to leave our children’s children!