My participation in the garbage pin project began with reflections upon the idea that everything in our world sheds and requires dispensation, from animal and vegetation to inanimate objects. Waste is inevitable. Even the most stable materials are constantly changing and at some point waste away. This is the cyclical underpinning of life. Humans have been shifting this balance. On the one hand, we overproduce material goods and dispense of them without worrying about the cycle of regeneration. At the same time, we have become obsessed with protection against the natural progression. We created an artificial hierarchy that tells us what needs protection so that it does not prematurely disintegrate. As a result certain unhealthy obsessions have arisen. These thoughts coincided with my long belated trip to the dentist office. There, I was lectured about the excessive stains on my teeth and the need for numerous products to bring back the desirable whiteness. I chose to ignore the long list of bleaching strips, mouthwashes and specialty toothpastes and instead made a commitment to the white string, the floss. As I flossed away, a confirmation of a previous thought followed—negotiating with garbage is inevitable but the balance within that negotiation often seems lost.