Where does OUR trash go?

If you’ve seen Egypt Beyond the Pyramids then you know where Egypt’s garbage goes, and you have a pretty good idea of what happens to Swiss garbage – but what about America?  Ever wonder what happened to that used printer cartridge you slipped into the trash when no one was looking?

Well, a bunch of people at MIT did.  In 2009 they tagged 3000 pieces of trash (submitted by 500 brave citizens) and followed each piece to its final destination.

This very cool graphic shows what happened to it in real time.

One exception: e-waste.  Almost all of America’s e-waste goes to China.  it ends up in places like Guiyu, a small town about 300 km northeast of Hong Kong.

That part’s not cool at all if you happen to be growing up in Guiyu.