“Out of sight, out of mind.”
The Salem Progressive Film Series continues on Thursday, November 8 with the showing of “The Clean Bin Project”.
The film follows the relatively eco-conscious couple Grant and Jen and their year-long competition that can be summarized in three simple (but difficult to follow) rules: 1. No buying material goods, 2. No producing garbage, and 3. Take responsibility for our own trash no matter where we are.
Whoever produces the least amount of trash and doesn’t buy any material goods (new or used) wins.
The two run into various pitfalls during their adventure, the most consistent being struggling to purchase food without packaging. This happens so frequently that “No bag, thanks,” becomes a catch-phrase of sorts throughout the film.
The couple also, understandably, struggle with willpower at several points throughout the documentary, similar to that of a couple going on a diet together or kicking a habit.
Alongside Grant and Jen’s 365-day journey are stories of a man who’s part of a twenty-unit housing complex that nets no garbage, a Seattle-based artist who uses trash in his work to show the severity of our society’s waste problem, and a captain who discovered a sea of plastic in the Pacific Ocean.
The modern history of packaging is also addressed in the film, outlining how complicated the packaging of similar items have become during the past 60-plus years, as well as the changes in recycling & re-purposing of packaging over that same time.
The film is insightful and educational, but also entertaining with several humorous scenes involving the couple’s struggle with the competition and related befuddlement of clerks and shopkeepers.
Tickets to the documentary are $4 or $3 for students. Call (503) 881-5305 or (503) 779-5288 for more information.
The night will also include guest speaker Alan Pennington and Bailey Payne, Marion County Waste Reduction Coordinators, and via-Skype, Jen and Grant from the documentary.
To find out more about The Clean Bin Project, visit Jen and Grant’s blog at www.CleanBinProject.com.
Salem Progressive Film Series challenges you:
Reduce your use of disposable, to-go coffee cups. Bring you own mug or insulated coffee cup to your favorite coffee shop
Coffee Shops that offer you a discount if you bring your own:
Cascade Baking Co. charges only $1 for whatever size cup/mug you bring in, even a 20 oz cup is a dollar.
Clockworks Cafe gives you a .15 discount if you bring in your own cup/mug.
IKE Box gives you a .25 discount
The Beanery gives you a .10 discount
Governors Cup gives a .25 discount
Starbucks gives you .10 discount
Croissant and Co gives a .25 discount
The Clean Bin Project
Salem Progressive Film Series
November 8, 2012, 7 p.m.
Grand Theater
191 High Street NE Salem OR
salemprogressivefilms.net
(503) 881-5305
