The National Recycler Unleashes Littering Bombshell by Greg Olsen

This piece parodies tabloid publications and calls out litterers who don't think their discarded trash affects others. It shows that over time littering destroys our outdoors — and even our beautiful college campuses — and causes unsettling repercussions for those who usually don't cause the problems, but are often the ones who have to deal with the disturbing results.

This piece utilizes the designed to be eye-catching format of a tabloid magazine to bring awareness to our waste problem. The main feature is a large kraken, who is said to have mistaken a large piece of waste in the ocean as a ship. The choice of the kraken in this piece is strategic, in that its fantasy nature, especially being of a malevolent spirit, is meant to strengthen this idea of cynicism that the creator appears to have about the state of tackling the waste issue. That is to say, the creator is taking this creature, the kraken, who by all lore and reputation, is this large undefeatable creature, who has earned a “mythic” status, is even being affected by this waste issue. 

 I think initially as audience members, we are drawn to absurdism; when these tabloids are about celebrities or some other important figure, they have been so normalized. It is a piece of our lives we see every day online and in the checkout lane at the grocery store, and because of our repeated exposure to it, we have stopped thinking about how truly bizarre this is. Regarding that normalization, however, when we use a different subject, this format begins to be funny. The Kraken is not a figure we would see in any sort of normal situation.

Review

While this piece is obviously humorous, I think part of the issue with creating a piece that relies on humor, and plays on this cynicism that a lot of individuals have about our waste issue, or anything of an environmental issue, sometimes the opposite intention comes true. When we are repeatedly exposed to cynicism, it normalizes this attitude. This means that the idea we are trying to get at "there's a waste problem” becomes a joke, and it isn’t taken as seriously.

Reference

University of Washington Recycling. (2025, April 15). 2025 Trash Art Contest winners repurpose waste into thoughtful art. UW Sustainability. https://sustainability.uw.edu/blog/2025-trash-art-winners