A Missouri Western Professor has kicked the can by no longer throwing away any trash.

In fact, he's been doing it for a year now.

Professor Patrick McMurry has come clean.

His office is a little messy, but none of his mess will end up in a trash can -- ever.

"I noticed a few years ago that I would throw an awful lot of paper away," said Patrick.

That's where he began his disposeless lifestyle, no longer tossing the biggest pollution culprit where it really doesn't belong.

"How can I teach about protecting the environment if I won't even recycle newspapers?" he asked.

McMurry teaches environmental economics and noticed an immediate decrease in his trash can piles.

"Then I said, okay, if I pick out the plastics, everything plastic, there's even less in there," he added.

The professor didn't stop there.

He still had to contend with lunch garbage -- or maybe not.

"I don't ever use bottles that I throw away anymore. I bring my own water and I used to bring my own lunch in a paper bag and throw it away. I don't do that anymore," he explained.

Even inside McMurry's reusable lunch tote are washable containers.

He also uses physical labor to make his point.

One project had his students picking up trash along the Missouri River.

"That makes a lasting impression on you," he said. "Once you've picked up somebody else's trash, and you look at it afterwards, it will change you. You simply won't throw that stuff out the window anymore."

A word of caution if you choose to follow in McMurry's steps.

A study from a couple of years ago demonstrated reusing water bottles can be dangerous unless they're properly cleaned after every use.