Workers and shirkers

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

In these few days the volunteers had several treats - electricity, mobile calls and spa. But it was at this point that tensions rose and arguments threatened to break the group up. Why do you think that was?

Tension in the group rose between the ‘workers’ and ‘shirkers’ and they fell into their various roles. Selena had taken charge of cooking and cleaning; she was pissed off with people leaving dirty plates and cups around encouraging flies and rats. Sylvia was cooking haute cuisine almost every night. Jason, Lawrence and Ian became increasingly frustrated by the lack of initiative shown by some members of the group to improve their living area. Aaron admitted he was ‘bone idle’ and Jermaine wanted the others to respect his decision to take it easy.

Lawrence, the youngest member of the group, came into his own, petitioning the group and taking charge of the shelter rebuild. Lawrence’s consensual style contrasted with Ian’s more top down approach and proved as, if not more, effective. The rebuild of the shelter gave each member of the group the opportunity to take part and construct a home they could be proud of. And, it gave them a better night's sleep!

The group are nearing the end of their second week on the dump. Did you see changes in their attitudes?

Two weeks down, one week to go. I wanted the dump to be something they’d be really proud of by the time they left. I wanted them to be amazed by the quality of life they’ve carved out for themselves on the dump.

After two weeks, attitudes were changing. They all seemed resigned to staying. For diehard greens like Selena and Lawrence the experience was confirming their deeply-held beliefs. Jermaine the cynic wasn’t engaged. He wanted an easy life. Sylvia and Jason thought they were pretty green but had started to question their behaviour in real life. Maybe they weren’t as eco-friendly as they thought.

Then you’ve got Sasha and Aaron who seem to have taken most from the experience by this stage. They fully admitted they weren’t green before but being on the dump profoundly affected them. Or were they just paying lip service to the experiment? Will the experience actually affect their lifestyles beyond the three weeks on the dump?