LANDFILL PRIZE 2010

Bored with your old fridge magnet and scribbled notes? Fancy an award winning digital video recording fridge magnet instead?

If so then the Digital Fridge Memo, recently awarded the Landfill Prize 2010, is just the thing for you.

The Landfill Prize is awarded each year to the most inventive, creative yet utterly useless piece of rubbish destined for the dump soon after purchase.

(pic by hyena from wikimedia commons)

Suggestions are submitted on line, and a judging panel chooses the best of the worst.

Brainchild of author John Naish (Enough: Breaking Free from the World of More) the Landfill Prize is �a monument to perverse imagination and needless consumption� he suggests.

Naish, who has previously written books on Hypochondria and �Bizarre Sex Advice�, was joined in judging by authors Anna Shepherd, (How Green Are My Wellies?) and Carl Honore (In Praise of Slow) as well as Ben Davis, co-founder of BuyLessCrap.org.

Last year, a motorized rotating ice cream cone was the winner � for those literally too lazy to turn their head or hand whilst piling on the pounds.

For 2010 the digital fridge magnet, which allows for a 30 second personalised video recording, is top of the pile.

According to the nominator of the Digital Fridge Memo, � you�ve only added a digital screen, a rechargeable battery system, a computer and a camera to the planet�s landfill potential�.

And what potential. In Ireland alone, we generate 3.4 million tonnes of municipal waste annually, of which 2 million tonnes is landfilled.

Other 2010 winners include the Bra Dryer, The Dryear Ear Dryer and the UroClub.

The beauty of all of these is that they have some immediate attraction, because they do exhibit some design cleverness. They also immediately seem supra wasteful.

The Bra Dryer, runner up in the 2010 Awards, is shaped like a female Torso. The �69 (sterling) ear dryer, dries ears by blowing hot air into the canal. However it is to be used after first using the towel, according to instructions.

How about the Uroclub, for the golfer who really needs to go? This ingenious little addition to the golfer's bag is, according to its nominator, �a hollow plastic club in which you can urinate mid-round, instead of an eco-friendly bush or tree to pee behind in the time-honoured way�. And that�s not all: there�s also a tie-on �modesty blanket��.

Golf scores again with the Reel Putter, further down the list at number 7. This novelty item is �a golf putting club with an attached fishing reel, so you can reel in your putts�.

Last year's eco anomaly in the Landfill prize was the Toyota Prius. This year, 100% organic cotton toilet tissue scoops a prize. Clocking in at number 5, this product gets the nod because it displaces

�something that is recycled from a renewable resource�, whilst also �set(ting) aside valuable agricultural land to grow cotton.�

Another quirky winner is the Kindle, which arrives in at 10. Here's why: �Not only is it a completely unnecessary piece of electronic rubbish, it seeks to replace a design classic: the far-from obsolete, cheap and entirely reusable (ask any library!) book,� says Ben Duncan, who nominated it.

�It creates a whole new market in copyrighted material as it does so, meaning literature is reduced from being a pastime and an art form to being a piece of tradable intellectual property.�

I spoke to John Naish in Brighton about this year's awards. I first asked him about the size and price of the products, which seemed markedly smaller than previous years.

�They are nominated by public, but maybe the public just isn't seeing these big things for ridiculous money anymore. Of course, these aren't necessarily cheap � is 70 quid for drying your ear after already drying it with a towel really cheap?

The Kindle seemed contentious: I put it to Naish that, notwithstanding the issues of copyright and reuseability, the Kindle may be seen as something of an eco option: it can store a lot of information, cuts down on paper, on non-vegetable based inks, and on what could be termed 'book miles'.

�The problem is that the Kindle and products like it simply aren't sustainable technology. Next year there will be a better one, and there will be a race to get it first. If we were building one to be sustainable, it wouldn't be so throwaway.�

He elaborates �modulised parts, for example, would be a marked improvement.� In other words, parts that could be taken out and reused elsewhere or in upgrades.

He also points out that products like the Kindle tend contain more toxic parts parts than a book: the latter can be reused, recycled or even composted.

�We should be moving into cradle to cradle technologies� he points out. �it would make a lot of sense to almost rent products from manufacturers, who should be telling us a lot more about these things and what they are doing with them from beginning to end. We could be using things until they are literally worn out, and then giving them back.�

�Certainly we should be evolving better use values. Technology is our way out of planetary problems: people don't seem to want to consume less, but we need to start using technology properly.�

He suggests that some industries, such as the car industry, are moving more in this direction than others, where various environmental regulations are forcing their hand.

For more, see Naish's site which includes five ways to avoid buying into unnecessary waste, or, in his own words, �five ways to crap-proof your brain�.