If the stories behind our physical things help to add value at the point of purchase (provenance) and throughout the lifetime of a product (object narrative), why can’t that value extend beyond our ownership and follow these items to their final resting places? With the launch of their newest project, Trash Track, MIT researchers from the SENSEable City Laboratory endeavor to do just that, using electronic tags to trace the things we throw away as they move through the entire disposal system.
By monitoring the time and costs associated with transporting our garbage to dumps and landfills, the MIT team hopes to [...]
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