A Conversation for Ask h2g2
The Colour of Rubbish.
Pink Paisley Started conversation May 12, 2015
Given a pile of photographs of rubbish taken over the years, could you estimate the date accurately by the colour of the rubbish?
I have been thinking about this over the last couple of days (perhaps I should get out more!), having seen a pile of rubbish awaiting clearance, outside a house that I pass every morning.
It's that colour acid lime green that prompts me to ask. It is fashionable at the moment. Even I, not a well known follower of fashion, have it around my house.
In the pile of rubbish there are a couple of items in that colour. It is a pile of mid 2010's rubbish.
So what about other periods? Was 1970's rubbish particularly brown? 1980's avocado?
PP.
The Colour of Rubbish.
Mol - on the new tablet Posted May 12, 2015
It's pretty well what archaeologists do, isn't it?
I'm not sure if I could date rubbish by colour. But 1970s rubbish, for example, would probably be edged with ric-rac braid.
Mol
The Colour of Rubbish.
paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant Posted May 23, 2015
Rubbish of the distant future [circa 2442] will be almost transparent, as the light-blocking properties of steel give way to transparent or translucent varieties that let light through. Even chlorophyll will be see-through, allowing the same beam of light to pass through many plants and allow more photosynthesis with the same amount of light.
The Colour of Rubbish.
quotes Posted Jun 13, 2015
Contemporary rubbish will comprise largely of TV drama.
The Colour of Rubbish.
Mol - on the new tablet Posted Jun 13, 2015
And crap books. Which means rubbish from this era will be fifty shades of grey.
Mol
The Colour of Rubbish.
paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant Posted Jun 13, 2015
What about thrown-away CDs and DVDs? Won't it take eons for them to decompose? I can imagine archaeologists of the future coming upon a deposit of old AOL demo CDs and thinking the people of our age were stark raving bonkers.
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The Colour of Rubbish.
- 1: Pink Paisley (May 12, 2015)
- 2: Mol - on the new tablet (May 12, 2015)
- 3: Xanatic (May 12, 2015)
- 4: paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant (May 23, 2015)
- 5: paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant (Jun 13, 2015)
- 6: quotes (Jun 13, 2015)
- 7: Mol - on the new tablet (Jun 13, 2015)
- 8: paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant (Jun 13, 2015)
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