Seattle , Washington ( CNN ) -- The plastic Ziploc bag thrown in the trash in Seattle , Washington , spent a week traveling 300 miles to an Oregon landfill . The old Apple iBook that was recycled is a month into its journey . And a pair of worn Asics running shoes is still logging miles even after being dropped in a bin for used shoes . Those are just some of the trails of trash exposed in a high-tech trash study . `` Normally , you think about the trash for minutes while you take it out to the can , '' says Ethan O'Connor , `` and this trash we are going to be watching on our Web browsers for weeks . '' O'Connor and Shannon Cheng are volunteers in a study tracking their trash -- and giving them the opportunity to reflect on what they use and discard . The tracking devices are about the size of small cell phones and allow for near-real-time tracking of thousands of pieces of garbage . The tracking is not part of some top-secret government program to spy on garbage , but rather the brainchild of MIT researchers who wanted to learn if society could more efficiently dispose of what it throws out . `` The idea with this tagging exercise is to bring an invisible system to life , '' said Assaf Biderman , associate director of MIT 's SENSEable City Lab . `` By knowing how long it stays in the system , where it goes , we are hoping to create an increased awareness in the public . '' Before that increased awareness could be created , however , the scientists needed to devise a way to track pieces of trash , some for hundreds of miles and for up to six months . Researchers are doing most of the tracking via volunteers in Seattle . They plan to expand the program to other cities and compare the attitudes that people in different regions have about garbage . Working with the telecommunications company Qualcomm , the MIT researchers created a device -- or , as the researchers call them , `` traces '' -- that could track a piece of trash using both GPS and cell phone towers . The researchers then asked volunteers to supply items they were already planning to get rid of and put the tracking `` traces '' on the items . The volunteers then threw the material out as they usually would . Just getting the trace on the piece of trash presented its own challenges . Some needed to be taped or sewn into the garbage ; others were stuck to the trash with a sticky aerosol spray . The researchers stipulated that the trace not alter how the garbage traveled through the waste system or call attention to the item . `` The thing about trash is that each object is very different , '' Biderman said . `` Different sizes , different textures , different constraints . '' O'Connor and Cheng live on a houseboat , where space is at a premium . Participating in the study has allowed the couple to think of larger-picture issues about the trash they produce . But it 's not just the trash 's owners who are tracking the tems . Waste Management Inc. , a waste removal and recycling company , is helping fund the study in the hope that it will show that the trash they dispose of goes where it should . Officials say they are also looking for ways to better deal with garbage . `` It could make a huge difference , '' Waste Management spokeswoman Rita Smith said . `` We want to do everything we can to get our materials to their destinations as efficiently as possible ; not only because of the economic cost , but also because of the environmental cost . There 's no point in hauling material around in circles . '' Researchers are still compiling data as the trash makes its journey . Even though the study has not been completed , the MIT group sees its efforts as a step toward better informing Americans about trash . `` Can we create a situation of minimum waste ? '' Biderman said . `` In a certain way , it 's about telling people about what they throw away , making people more aware about waste , and perhaps changing their behavior . '' Participating in the study has already altered O'Connor 's outlook . `` The disposal is one part of it , the using is another , '' he said . `` No one 's saying we are bad people for using stuff , but the reality is each one of us gets one-six-billionth of what the Earth can produce , and what we have is much more than that . ''
Trash trail tracks how tons of garbage may travel hundreds of miles . MIT researchers hope study will help people better understand impact of garbage they produce . ` ` can we create a situation of minimum waste ? '' researcher says .