‘Wearing trash for two weeks was smelly!’
Football icon John Barnes dons a suit made from his own rubbish to help save the planet
John Barnes has always appeared like someone happy to have a laugh. We only need to listen to his rapping in the New Order anthem World In Motion to realise that. But in a new show, the former footballer and pundit goes through quite an ordeal to put the spotlight on serious environmental issues.
Celebrity Trash Monsters; What’s Your Waste Size? has John join model Jodie Kidd and TV personality Kerry Katona, all wearing suits made up of all the waste they generate during a week. As John’s rubbish suit gets bigger, he gets stinkier.
He tells us more about how the show aims to make us aware of how recycling and counting our waste can help the planet…
Hi John, why did you want to take part in a show like Trash Monsters?
Well, I guess recycling has become a hot topic of the past few years and I wanted to learn more about it.Young people know all about it, my children know all about it, but as far as I’m concerned recycling is just knowing what goes in what bin and that’s as basic as it gets, and I still don’t know that! So having the opportunity to learn more about it – not just in terms of what bin to use but also the impact it will have on climate change – is something I jumped at.
What shocked you the most during this experiment?
How devastating plastic is for the environment. For example, a plastic water bottle takes over 400 years to disintegrate and there are millions and millions of them all over the planet right now. When you think about what we’re putting in the sea that we don’t see, or in landfill, we don’t think about it, we just do it. But the impact it has on the environment, for me, was a real shock.
You were taken to a field where all your rubbish from just one week was laid out – were you shocked at how much was there?
No, because I’ve got lots of kids! It’s just about being aware. I’m not all of a sudden going to go on a guilt trip that I’m destroying the planet because I am no different to anyone else. I can’t sit here and say I’m never going to use plastic again, because I will, it’s not realistic. But I think we need to be more conscious of making smaller changes, like opting for glass bottles. I think people get scared because they think it’s an all or nothing choice. It’s just a case of being more responsible and when we can, make better decisions.
‘I’m not going on a guilt trip, it’s about being more aware and responsible’
You wore a rubbish suit for two weeks, what was that like?
It was uncomfortable and smelly! I’d put my mind to the fact that it was just something I had to do so I got on with it.There’s no point agreeing to something and complaining about it. I knew what I had signed up to. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t have worn it, but I’d committed to the show and the experiment so I had to wear it.
What was the reaction like from people on the street?
People normally shout at me in the street anyway! Obviously when you’re wearing a suit like that, it’s a little bit stranger to see you in that way. I think they were a bit more curious about what I was up to. A lot of people were interested in it, and I’d explain what I was doing.
Have you made any big changes in your household since filming?
I think it was more about just cutting down on what we buy. I’m not going to all of a sudden say we’re never having a takeaway or plastic. It’s really just about cutting down on the amount we have and making small changes. Will the lesson I’ve learnt be life-changing? Only time will tell because obviously when anything like this happens, you make changes over the next few weeks for the better. If I make these changes and they last for the rest of my life then, of course, it will be a life-changing experience.
Has the scale of the problem made you worry about the future of the planet?
The thing is, it worries me for my great-grandchildren more than it does me. I’m now 57, my oldest son’s 35, my youngest is 10. So maybe in the next 30 years they won’t be affected, and because we don’t know our great-grandchildren, we might not have that empathy about the state of the planet they are going to inherit. Of course, we should. I’ve got three young grandchildren now so, of course, I am starting to think about it, while I think in their lifetime they may not be affected, their children certainly will be. How are they going to feel? We need to have more empathy now for the sake of our offspring in the future.
Celebrity Trash Monsters: What’s Your Waste Size? Sunday, 9pm, Channel 4