Environmental Science Professor Jeff Wilson of Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas is living in a six-by-six dumpster for a year of his life, proving that the typical American home has gotten unnecessarily large.
The Dumpster Project includes a website chronicling Professor Wilson’s year-long life inside a retrofitted dumper one percent of the size of the average new American home. What follows will be a documentary about the experience. Phase One of the project is Wilson just living in the six-by-six space while Phase Two will add a functional bathroom and structure that rids the uniquely eco-friendly home of the need for a window unit air conditioner. While the dumpster home continues to grow throughout the project, Wilson plans to continue only using one percent of the resources necessary for the typical house. To do this, he will build up instead of out and incorporate sustainable features such as a raised-bed garden and solar panels. In the not-too-distant future, structures like this could be made of stacked, repurposed dumpsters.
Here is a video touring the dumpster and outlining the project:
Read more about the Dumpster Project on Insteading.
