Alright, I've practically missed June... Hey, I'm potty training a toddler in my 3rd trimester; I'm a little preoccupied! :)
I thought we could look at 'garbage' this next month or so and focus on reducing the amount of trash we put out at the curb each week. Here's some ideas and things we do:
** RECYCLE: If your city has a program of any type and you have yet to participate, this would be a great time to start! Our city makes it really easy, I think. They take glass, plastics 1 &2, cans/foil, and paper/cardboard. We have a large, city-owned bin that we can put out on the curb each week. The day-to-day effort is really not much; I've just worked it into my routine... rinsing, removing labels, bagging things up. I really like knowing that it won't just sit in a landfill, but it will hopefully be re-used purposefully...
** COMPOST: Practicing composting is a many-fold blessing (I bet you've never heard someone talk so adoringly about compost!). First, it reduces the amount of trash. Second, our trash is much less stinky and attractive to pests. Third, it provides great food for our garden! We don't have a garbage disposal, so I just have a wire 'catcher' in my kitchen sink for the organic scraps and I have a bucket underneath the sink for day-to-day scrap collection. The bucket gets pretty stinky, but we keep the lid on tight to contain the smell. (I use an ice cream bucket.) When that fills up, Brian takes it out to a pile we have in our backyard (way stinky!) or just buries it directly in the garden. The theory behind compost is 'Everything organic will break down eventually.' There are many ways to speed up the process or to make it more feasible for your own yard situation. The big things are a pile that's at least 3' x 3'. Things get hot in the center of the pile and break down. Also, stirring is a good thing, and so is layering what they call 'green' matter (food scraps, rotten things) and 'brown' matter (dried leaves, grass clippings, broken sticks).
** GIVE AWAY: Take stuff to Good Will or give it away/sell it rather than just dumping it in the trash. Even electronics that no longer work may be of interest to someone online who is a fixer-upper or salvager.
** REUSE: Avoid 'disposable' things as much as you can. Try using rags instead of paper towels. I use a re-fillable razor instead of disposable ones. Keep things simple with a broom and a mop instead of all the new-fangled gadgetry of Swiffers, etc. So many 'convenience' items are disposable and plastic, contributing to higher volumes of trash. You can also get creative and re-use or re-purpose things that seem useless... make some up-cycled art and give as gifts or decorate your house!
** SHOPPING HABITS: Buy less packaging with your groceries. Stay away from individually wrapped things as much as you can. Also, I find the less crap I buy, the less crap I have to throw away! What a concept! I'm always trying to 'consume' less... Any time I'm tempted to "get a new.... whatever" , I just try to imagine my old one (that there's really nothing actually wrong with) sitting in a trash dump... for no good reason except my desire to have 'the next best thing.'
See what you can do... Sometimes we end up skipping trash day all together because our can isn't any where near full enough! I figure, that saves our garbage man a trip, too! Let me know if you have more ideas or things that have worked for you. I know many of you are doing these things already. Please do share success stories!!
Comments (1)
Meg...I sure miss seeing you. Kudos on the good trash post. We also have tried to limit our trash to 1 small bag each week. Recycle recycle recycle whatever we can. Our Heinen's market gives $.12 if you bring your own bags...we have been doing that even with out the bonus, but that is a nice perk. We break down our boxes and put them in another box, the ones we cannot recycle we do not put out for trash until the box if stuffed full. I too have been really working hard at not buying so much and using what I have, As for giving away..consider it blessing people and ebay is a wonderful way to make extra spending money. I even consider ebay blessing people because they can purchase items that they may not otherwise be able to afford at full price. I paid for one semester of Mike's college books with ebay funds. I have also found 2 sites that purchase used CD's and Books. secondspin.com and webuyyourbooks.com. I have had several transactions with both companies and things went smoothly. I have really become convicted of the need to simplify my life and already I can feel the freedom. Gail Mace