‘Make it Orange’ aims to make all the single-use trash produced by businesses in and around state parks a bright, neon, offensive orange. Worry no more about losing your trash to the breeze, The Orange ensures you’ll be able to spot your trash from a mile away. The Orange makes it easier to clean up after yourself, while also making you think twice about littering. It stands out, you can’t ignore it, and it gets in the way of all the nice, scenic pictures you want to take. If left to the elements for too long, The Orange begins to spread through an environmentally safe orange dye. Stayed out late and now you’re stuck cleaning up in the dark? The Orange glows in the dark, making cleanup possible at all times of the day.
Orange single-use items will be provided to businesses at a competitive market price. The cheaper option is to use Orange products over traditional single-use products. If businesses don’t enjoy the aesthetic of The Orange, they can provide their own eco-friendly options or encourage customers to bring their own reusable containers/bags. For brand name pre-packaged items, businesses will be required to apply Orange stickers over the packing after sale transactions.
Additionally, in the Buckeye Lake residential areas, trash cans have orange lids. So all Orange trash will coordinate with local trash collection systems.
This conjecture references the “Reducing wasteful gift-giving” article, where waste management is first handled at the business level. Instead of passing along trash for customers to deal with later, the businesses featured in the article use locally sourced recycled materials and packaging. Trash is a responsibility shared by both the business and consumer (Read 2023).
While Orange products are still non-recyclable trash, they visually confront the trash consumption of both businesses and customers. The Orange isn’t meant to be enjoyed, it’s meant to force businesses to confront their trash production and make consumers more aware of their own trash consumption/production.
The ‘throwaway culture’ described in the “Creating a throwaway culture” article explains that we were influenced into a culture where throwing something away is second-nature. Furthermore, the accumulation of trash goes unnoticed (Copley 2024). The Orange is an attempt to make people notice the act of throwing something away again, and maybe that split second of noticing can result in the questioning of the larger throwaway culture.
The Orange doesn’t do anything to mitigate waste since it merely replaces waste with an orange version. And while environmentally friendly dyes exist, a dye at the caliber of orange The Orange requires is next to impossible. Another shortcoming that would need to be addressed is the implementation of Orange products into businesses, especially chain businesses that have their own standardized packaging products.
Still, The Orange suggests that part of the solution to waste mitigation is shifting perceptions of trash from something mundane to something you can’t help but pay attention to.
Copley, M. (2024, June 9). Creating a throw-away culture: How companies ingrained plastics in modern life. NPR; NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/06/09/nx-s1-4942415/disposable-plastic-pollution-waste-single-use-recycling-climate-change-fossil-fuels
Read, Z. (2023, December 22). Reducing wasteful gift-giving: Philly businesses, shoppers find ways to reuse items this holiday season. WHYY; WHYY. https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-holiday-gifts-sustainable-waste/
