- To throw a thing into the garbage bin is to say that the thing is meaningless to you and that you believe it to be meaningless to others.
- Thus, a garbage bin is a communication device, allow you to signal to others that certain things lack meaning.
- If an item is meaningless and yet not actually in the garbage bin then it is in fact of uncertain meaning, both to yourself and others. You must constantly evaluate it and reaffirm its meaninglessness. Others must also evaluate it, but they cannot come to a definitive conclusion.
- In an ideal household, the garbage bin contains no meaningful things and all meaningless things.
- Long-term deviation from this ideal leads to inner disharmony.
- The cost of throwing a thing away is negligible, almost free. This is both an ideal and a lie.
- The contents of a garbage bin are not only the things that are meaningless to you they are also the things that are valueless. That is to say, the benefit of retaining them is less than the cost of the same.
- This cost can be financial, spatial, psychological: upkeep; room; clutter.
- We are perhaps best defined by the things that we discard.
- A thing that is meaningless and valueless to everyone with access is true waste.
- True waste cannot be destroyed, only created. The waste in the world only increases. Our only escape from it is to relocate it.
- A garbage bin that is full is deficient for two reasons. First, the contents overflow, diminishing the value and beauty of the surrounding area. Second, the cost of throwing garbage away increases.
- Without a functioning garbage bin, the entire household begins to function as a garbage bin. This diminishes its ability to function as a household.
- In a world of infinite, cheap storage and trivial access, the garbage bin will still exist because true waste will still exist.
- Garbage bins are emptied into bigger garbage bins, which in turn are carried out to landfills. Some decomposes, some is recycled, much remains. What happens to it there?
- Those who move our garbage from one place to another are among those who do the most to maintain our quality of life. They are among the least honoured in our societies.
- Concrete objects are discarded by an act of volition. This is not the case for dreams, memories, thoughts, opportunities and time.
(Update: Spelling and slight rephrasing)