Wa$ted - 4/15/08

Last week, I told you about the new show that TLC has, called Wa$ted. It will later be broadcast on the new green network that will begin airing in June...but for now they are showing it on TLC. Here is a recap of the first episode, which aired on April 15th.

The Waste

This episode focused on the Zeller family...Marylu, her husband Denny, and their sons Chris and Nick. Together they have 8 vehicles, which include a motorcycle and an ATV. They go through the equivalent of 56 trees a year with all the paper products they use, especially paper towels...they use 40 rolls of paper towels a month. Their trash is about 2,000 lbs a year. They buy in bulk to save money, but end up throwing a lot of it away because it goes bad before they can use it.

The use 218 gallons of crude oil a week (2.5 times what a normal person uses), and spend about $15,000 for gas a year. They have a 9,000 sq ft house, and their electric bill runs as high as $500. Each family member contributes to their waste, including the sons who always leave lights and electronics on when they leave the room. The youngest son Nick often leaves the refrigerator open for minutes at a time, which wastes about $375 a year.

The Zeller family's ecological foot print is 132.4 acres, which is 120 times the size of their property. If everyone lived like them, we would need 7.4 more planets to sustain us.

The Help

To help them out, the hosts give them different solutions to turn things around. They are given:

• a hybrid car to drive for 3 weeks.
• an alarm that goes off if the refrigerator door is left open too long (it goes off if the temperature increases).
• 164 free CFL's to replace their old bulbs.
• dish towels to replace the paper towels. (Goal: go from 1 roll per day to 1 roll per week)
• a riding jacket that plugs into the motorcycle to keep Denny warm, so that he'll ride the motorcycle (more fuel efficient) more often, even when it's cold.

Interesting Facts

*If every house replaced 1 regular bulb with 1 CFL, all the homes in the LA area could be lit for 1 year.

*Every year, 4 billion trees are cut down to make paper goods.

The Results

The hosts returned after three weeks. So, how did the Zeller's do?

• They installed approximately 100 CFLs, for a savings of about $700/year.
• They used only 1/4 of a roll of paper towels, for a savings of $500/year.
• They drove the hybrid 243 miles, but Nick continued to drive the SUV.
• Denny didn't use the motorcycle or the heated jacket at all.

The Zeller's new foot print is 87.6 acres, a reduction of 34%. In total, they saved $2,258 projected over the year.

They still have a ways to go, but they're on the right track.