Michael Brown (E10) is currently working on a 30 day challenge he is calling “Life Without A Landfill,” and tracking his progress on his blog The Young Urban Unprofessional. In his own words:

I am a young 20-something who was born and raised in small-town Maine and then educated in big-city Boston.  These days I have a hard time coming to terms with what it means to be a young urban professional (yuppie) since lately I find myself fitting the characteristics. (…) I will be engaging in a series of self-selected, 30-day life experiments designed to challenge the status quo that comes with the yuppie territory. In the end it is my aim to challenge myself on a daily basis and to help redefine what it means to be young and successful.

“Life Without A Landfill” is his first endeavor and his goal is not to purchase or consume anything that must be thrown away. In his latest post, he describes a weekend trip to Maine:

I made the mistake of bringing the heaviest Tupperware I own (pyrex), not the best idea when backpacking.  The rest of my pack was super light anyway so it wasn’t a huge deal..  I also had previously bought a large bag of trailmix from Shaw’s which came in a recyclable ziplock bag.  The bag said “Please Recycle” with a recycle sign on the back however it did not include the number (1-7).  I am not sure how the recycling center will know how to sort it once I “recycle” it.  I’ll recycle it anyway but I’m skeptical that it won’t end up as trash in the end.