Pop Culture Shards From the Trash Heap of History

Memorable garbage from Woodsy to Wall-E.

Year	Trash	Treasured?
1969	Oscar the Grouch debuts on Sesame Street.	40 years later, kids still sing “I Love Trash!”
1970	Woodsy Owl implores kids to “Give a Hoot. Don’t Pollute.”	In 1997, Woodsy changes his tune: “Lend a Hand. Care for the Land.”
1977	Plastic bags first appear in grocery stores.	Everybody now: “Paper or plastic?”
1985	Garbage Pail Kids trading cards parody ubiquitous Cabbage Patch Kids dolls.	Up Chuck and Ray Decay make GPK “the gross-out phenomenon of the ’80s.”
1999	*American Beauty* features two-and-a-half-minute shot of floating plastic bag.	Film theorists still debating whether it’s a metaphor for a society hurtling toward ecological destruction—or just a bag.
2000	Wilson the volleyball becomes Tom Hanks’ best friend in Cast Away.	In a realistic touch, Wilson eventually washes out to sea to become turtle food.
2008	Wall-E cleans up the world by himself, one garbage cube at a time.	Spawned timeless products such as Wall-E flip-flops.
2008	As part of a $1.2 million office remodel, Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain expenses a $1,045 trash can.	Shamed into paying for the can, Thain says it was “a mistake in light of the world we live in today.”