There is no doubt about it, humans have produced an astronomical amount of trash. In fact, the average American consumes about 4.4 pounds of trash every single day and America alone sent 254 million tons of trash to the landfill in 2013. Where does it all go?

Thankfully, there are certain efforts in place that are aimed at reducing the amount of trash we are producing, as well as to reduce the impact that trash has. We have many recycling programs aimed at keeping this waste out of landfills, and, although it’s a step in the right direction and certainly helps on some level, there is still way too much garbage that is being produced on a regular basis. What’s really interesting to consider is that no more than a century ago humans, on this planets virtually produced no trash. This, of course, was much easier before plastic was invented and essentially took over many aspects of our lives. Think about it, plastic is likely a part of nearly every aspect of your life.

With the internet, comes awareness and with awareness we can create change. People are doing what they can to protect our environment, because let’s face it, no one really wants to see it destroyed – this is our home. Sure, there are many corporations that put profit before anything at all costs, but surely those individuals don’t actually want to see us destroy our environment.

We can definitely minimize the amount of trash we are producing, there is no doubt about that. In fact, Lauren Singer has produced less than a mason jar full of trash in 5 years and has recently opened up a store to assist others who are interested in living a zero waste lifestyle. The movement is becoming more and more popular. This is a HUGE step in the right direction and we can all do our part to consume less, but what are we supposed to do with the trash that is already existing in our environment? In landfills? In our oceans? In some cases, right in our cities and on the side of the road? Is there something useful that can be done with this pre-existing trash? Unfortunately we can’t snap our fingers and have it disappear, but we can use our intelligence and turn it into something that can assist our lives in some way.

This is exactly what this company from Ecuador has done, by turning trash into useful objects for a much more affordable price. This is especially awesome because there isn’t much of an infrastructure for recycling in Ecuador and many other impoverished nations. Eucaplastic S.C. is changing the game when it comes to trash and turning it into useful objects, including a house, that was made entirely from recycled milk boxes, just imagine how many lives this could impact in a positive way, not to mention the amount of trash it will keep out of the oceans and landfills, check it out!