The Afterlife of Stuff
What this project is really about
Close your eyes and picture a plastic shampoo bottle in your bathroom. You buy it for a few dollars, use it for a month, and toss it in the bin—viewing yourself as the end of its story. In reality, you are just one short stop in a much longer process. The Afterlife of Stuff is a systems-thinking project where you will explore the hidden life cycle of daily products. Instead of viewing an object only by its store price, students trace the hidden energy, resources, and human effort needed to make it, as well as where it goes after it is discarded. Ultimately, students create an 8 to 12-panel comic book illustrating their chosen object's current journey versus a reimagined zero-waste version in the year 2070.
What you'll walk away knowing how to do
This project isn't about memorising facts. It's about building capabilities that transfer — to your next project, your next class, and beyond.
Learn from people who do this for a living
You're not learning from a textbook. You're learning from practitioners.
Saloni Goel
Co-Anchor, Rooted Cities
A dreamer, a reader, and a Delhite, Saloni is a Young India Fellow, Class of 2020 and an Economics graduate from Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi. She is someone who is always looking out for new things to try out, ideas to work on and finding people crazy...
Anshuman Sisodia
Co-Anchor, Rooted Cities
A corporate sustainability professional specialising in the circular economy, with experience spanning climate literacy, ESG advisory and commercial strategy across organisations including Schneider Electric, Saint-Gobain and Mentora Institute. A certified Climate Fresk facilitator with a sustainability qualification from ESSEC Business School, France as he finds his work most fulfilling...
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