This Guy Saved All His Trash for a Year. What's Your Resolution?

In need of a role model to keep your New Year’s resolution? Meet Brennan Bird, a UC Davis super-senior who rode last year’s resolution all the way to the 2011 finish line, and became a local sustainability icon along the way.

Bird set out on New Year's day to do something that would “actually make a difference.” He committed to save all non-biodegradable waste packaging he used that year, and repurpose the accumulated material in small building projects, including plastic bottle benches and glass bottle structures to place around campus.

---

A year later, Bird finds himself in a bedroom cluttered with 188 pounds of trash—more than his body weight. As a "college student who enjoys partying," Bird admits that the bulk of his stash was mostly glass bottles from late nights familiarizing himself with local microbrews. While Bird cleans each piece of trash before storing it, much like doing the dishes, he does still have to fend off nay-sayers who assume his dorm room reeks.

But for Bird, the positive support has been so overwhelming—Think Green, Live Clean recognized Bird as America's Greenest Student—that he will spend 2011 expanding on the project.

So what's your resolution with impact? How will you measure it?