Walking with trash

Environmental activist Rob Greenfield has taken to the streets of Los Angeles and surrounding cities, donning all the waste he's generated for a month.

With only a few more days to meet his 30 day challenge, Greenfield's already carrying around 28 kilograms of waste from all the food and drinks he's consumed. To spread his message, Greenfield has exchanged his minimalist lifestyle for the 'Standard American Diet' for a month.

Rob Greenfield: "So this is a specially designed trash suit. Because the average person creates about five pounds of trash per day, this needs to be able to hold onto a lot of weight. So today's day 27, and I'm up to 63 pounds of trash on my body. So this suit has clear expandable pockets that grew with me through the last 27 days."

His trousers are stuffed with clanging drink cans, which hinder his movement, meanwhile his shirt is rammed with trash from all the food he's consumed.

Rob Greenfield: "It was about day 12 that I got into this and I started to really feel the burden of consumerism. I really started to just myself feel the weight and see the visual and just say wow, it's astounding how much our trash really adds up."

Spotting Greenfield in the streets, Anne-Marie O'Connor was flabbergasted at the thought that she could be responsible for generating that much waste.

Anne-Marie O'Connor: "I think it's inspiring that Rob is taking this journey. I think it's also kind of embarrassing in some ways that, to learn - cause I don't know much about that - to learn how much trash I, as an individual, am actually contributing to the environment on a daily basis."

Although Greenfield has explored several awareness raising efforts in the past, including producing his own food for a year, he's most pleased with the positive outcome of his trash suit demonstration.

Rob Greenfield: "People can understand this message, and it helps me to really reach people from, from all walks of life. Now, there are some people who think that I'm someone who's experiencing homelessness or that I have a mental health issue. But for the most part, people have just been really positive, very inspired."

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