Inhabitat » HEAVY TRASH LAUNCHES FOREVER LANDFILL

July 2, 2007

HEAVY TRASH LAUNCHES FOREVER LANDFILL

by Sarah Rich

Forever Landfill, Heavy Trash, Los Angeles waste project, Los Angeles art collaborative, green design art

Heavy Trash is at it again. The anonymous crew of Los Angeles-based interventionist artists, architects and urban planners just made a biting public criticism of LA’s waste and waste management problems in the form of a conceptual service company called Forever Landfill. The “company” provides individual plots of landfill for Angelinos to fill to their hearts content, delivering a satirically sharp critique on issues of personal waste production and a consumer-based society.

Forever Landfill, Heavy Trash, Los Angeles waste project, Los Angeles art collaborative, green design art

With Los Angeles’ consumptive culture showing no sign of slowing, the city’s current landfill supply falls short of demand. Forever Landfill provides an essential service to meet the lifestyle needs of L.A.’s luxury community by giving residents the opportunity to purchase their own personal landfill plot, complete with discrete daily pick-ups, signature refuse bins, and platinum customer care. Rather than asking Angelenos to make personal sacrifices, or requiring commercial producers to take responsibility for the waste they create, Forever Landfill allows residents to send their toxic e-waste, unsightly plastics, and excess packaging to a remote location where all trash can rest in peace.

Heavy Trash designed an extensive corporate website for Forever Landfill, complete with sample patterns for landfill bins (like the Burberry one pictured above), images of their ads on public benches, and a lengthy FAQ. The corporate copy is relentlessly sardonic and never breaks character. They point to a recent initiative proposed by a city councilman called RENEW L.A., which plans to improve waste management and drastically reduce trash over a twenty year period — a noble proposal except that it’s a time period at the end of which LA’s landfills will have long since reached capacity.

Most of the images on the Forever Landfill site appear to be computer generated, but given the lengths they’ve gone to in the past, it wouldn’t be beyond them to actually place a collection bin in front of a Brentwood or Beverly Hills estate. Maybe with the Burberry coat it’ll blend right in.

Via Worldchanging

+ Heavy Trash
+ Forever Landfill

Forever Landfill, Heavy Trash, Los Angeles waste project, Los Angeles art collaborative, green design art

12 Responses to “HEAVY TRASH LAUNCHES FOREVER LANDFILL”

João Sousa Says:

July 2nd, 2007 at 5:15 pm

nice idea! But DON’T do it with the american flag!!!! :P

am Says:

July 2nd, 2007 at 6:55 pm

Why not do it with an American Flag
just makes their point hit even harder that
we as a nation are a bunch of over consuming gluttons

J Says:

July 3rd, 2007 at 8:35 am

am - you know, we aren’t the only ones in this world making a mess. besides, making fun of the posh luxury brands like burberry is more in tune with the satirical message - poking fun at the excessive consumerism of the insanely rich in LA.

rob k Says:

July 3rd, 2007 at 12:06 pm

I think all three options are great, it spreads it out! You have the Burberry representing the excessively rich, the American flag representing america and the right (who often think Americans can do no wrong) and the green palms option, for the seeming eco-freindly Socal resident who talks the talk, but still consumes execessive amounts of trash. I think it is extremely fair. Nice Job Heavy Trash!

Jim Says:

July 3rd, 2007 at 4:48 pm

I don’t get it. What statement are they making? By making ugly garbage containers look ‘decent’, that’s supposed to say they’re poking fun at the rich?

A little esoteric? But then again, so are all these far fetched artistic navel gazing bs.

Nick Simpson Says:

July 4th, 2007 at 8:08 am

Burberry? Hahahahaha… If it signifies being rich in the US you should really have a look at who wears it in the UK! Just google “burberry” and “chav”…

NB a chav is essentially the English version of your trailer trash…

J Says:

July 6th, 2007 at 9:19 am

really Nick…interesting. then please do not inform us of what the rest of the UK sees Americans as then. actually it doesn’t matter, we already know. thankfully, I’m not one of the comformist losers who needs a brand to qaulify my existence.

J Says:

July 6th, 2007 at 9:43 am

and by the way, a chav is not the equivalent of trailer trash, not even close. they are called “wiggers” here, go ahead and google that. and judging from your disdain for the chavs and wiggers, I would have to assume you are the equivalent of the American “preppy” or “yuppie” - a self-important, rich, white person who only has a good time driving some expensive car and putting down others who don’t have a rich mommy and daddy. oh, and also hates hip-hop and african american culture, or urban culture as we call it here. but I digress….this is hardly the place for such a discussion.

Nick Simpson Says:

July 7th, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Well well J, you’re a very angry (and assuming) little man aren’t you? No, I’m not rich, don’t own a car, had a free school education, am currently paying my own way through architecture school and am a pretty big fan of a number of African American artists, such as Kanye West. I am however white though, I hope that’s okay by you?

Anyway, I’m afraid you’ve obviously not got much of a handle on what a chav is, it’s nothing to do with black culture or being a “wigger”. Try googling it again and reading some of the stuff you find.

And my first comment wasn’t an attack on anyone or a comment on how the UK sees Americans, it was simply surprise that something that seems so highly prized in the US is actually nowadays so badly thought of in its home country…

J Says:

July 9th, 2007 at 2:02 pm

Nick - actually I am a 22 yr old white female (of an average 5′5 height…not that it matters does it?) with a BID and just like you, paying it all back to those evil student loan companies. and I must admit your posting did incite some anger ( whether it meant to or not). your comment came across very arrogant and snobbish (”you think thats rich? oh you silly american”). I did look up chav, and reviewing the wiki page (not the most reliable source, if you think there’s a better link share it) it is the equivalent to a “wigger”. also…Kanye west is a joke to hip hop, he is an egotistical womanizer that equates himself with christ. no wonder everyone keeps saying hip hop is dead. now, my response was quite snippy and mean-spirited no doubt, so I apologize and hope we can get back to the stuff that really matters and the real reason we’re on this site.

royalestel Says:

July 11th, 2007 at 2:56 pm

Don’t get it.

Wait, “biting public criticism” ?

Nope. Still don’t get it.

Lauren Says:

July 20th, 2007 at 7:22 pm

I think that not only should this be real… everything about it is a scathing reminder of the evils of consumerism… and since we are a disgustingly wasteful society… keep up with the Jones’

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