I decided I'm going to challenge myself to produce less garbage. I want to see how long I can go before my trash can fills up and I have to take it out... I put a new bag in on Sunday, and today is Friday, so that's 6 days so far. 

Part of this is re-thinking what I throw away. Today I was about to toss a plastic bag some socks came in, but realized it could come in handy- it has a zipper top and is pretty sturdy, so I could use it for carrying lunches to work or catching kitchen scraps. I'm not doing this to encourage hoarding, but just to take a second look at what I might be wasting. I really hate waste. 

I'm not counting kitchen scraps as part of my challenge- I live in an apartment and can't compost. So kitchen scraps are either used for broth and then thrown away, or they go down the garbage disposal, or I collect them in a re-used plastic bag in the refrigerator (so they don't stink up the trash can). 

Does anyone want to join me? 

I'm in. Have been for a couple of weeks. It makes me more mindful of purchases and how they are packaged, and plans for recycling what is left. A 50 ct. box of 13 gal. kitchen trash bags for 6.99 was what set me into motion!

My biggest trash stuff is the boxes that my purchases come in when they are delivered by UPS, etc.

 Mine is the plastic grocery bags. But we use them instead of throwing them away use them for  grabage bags for our little trash cans. And as far a cloths go i take my shirts that have holes in the or just plain worn out i cut the sleeves off and use the shrit as a night shirt.

 I'm in!

I've already noticed a big change recently. When my 2 roommates moved out, the house went from 2 completely compacted & overstuffed trashcans every night to 1 bag every 2 days. And when the 2 roommates moved out, my boyfriend moved in--so there's only a net loss of 1 person in the house. BIG CHANGE! I think this is because the roommates were just generally wasteful people. My first goal is to reduce this further to 1 bag every 3 days.

Now, I think a bigger goal with the challenge is to actually use the things we are saving from the landfill, otherwise this challenge could be encouraging hoarding and other bad habits.

I cut my trash back some time ago - Denver has recycling as part of the trash pick up, the cost of which is included in property taxes, but there is no additional fee for recycling, and no sorting needed, either.  I  have two city trash cans - one black for regular trash, and one purple for recycling.  The general trash is picked up once a week, and usually only has one bag of trash in it - sometimes two.  The recycling bin is picked up every two weeks, and is generally full or nearly so, usually with plastic and cardboard - I cut way back on my soda, especially at home, so I no longer have cans to recycle, unless someone comes to visit and brings cans with them, so I rarely have cans to recycle; the cardboard generally comes from shopping at Costco.  I need to do a better job of composting my kitchen waste, which will cut the one bag back from 3/4 full to about half - but other than that, I just don't generate much waste.

I have gradually phased in recycling over time.  I am SO proud that I put out a small garbage can once a week that is LESS than half full.  We have trash pickup twice a week and I am amazed at the amount of garbage that people put out.  AND that so much of it COULD be recycled.

1. I take all cardboard (boxes, toilet and paper towel rolls) , cardboard/paper packaging (cereal boxes and all the other paper packaging that stuff comes in), newspaper, magazines, junk mail, unused envelopes (I don't mail my bill payments, I pay them online), etc. to paper recycling bins at any one of the schools close to my home.

2. All plastic grocery bags and any plastic packaging marked with a 2 or 4 go to the recycling drum at my local grocery store

3. We have a compost pile in the backyard.  So all household vegetable matter (egg shells, fruit/vegetable peels, coffee grounds, tea bags), grass clippings, and leaves go there.  We use the compost in our potted plants and flower beds.

4. All plastic jugs/bottles and tin cans go to the recycling bin at my nearby HEB store.  This is a joint project between the City of Houston and ??? (I can't remember).

5. We save, crush, and take aluminum cans to the metal recycling center and get paid for them.  Mom's carport blew down in Hurricane Ike and we cut it up and took it to the metal recycling center and got a lot of money (I don't remember how much.  I just remember I was impressed with the amount).

5. Hubby takes all used oil to a nearby auto parts store for recycling.

6. I only use paper towels IF absolutely necessary.  I just used up my last roll of cheapo paper towels from an 8 pack that was 1-1/2 years old!  I have tons of dish towels and use them instead.  They get thrown in the wash with sheets or bath towels.  I have a stack of old towels that are used to clean up messes and we use newspaper to clean the windows.

7. I sell on eBay, Amazon, and my own website.  So I reuse boxes and packing peanuts that I receive.  I also use some of my newspaper for packing material.

8. I buy things used rather than new if at all possible.

9. I belong to numerous freecycle.org groups in and around my area.  I give aways things I no longer need and get items I can use for free.

10. I TRY to cook from scratch as much as possible; so I don't buy a lot of prepackaged food any more.  I buy in bulk when possible - less packaging and less trips to the store.  If I can't use all of something that I can buy in bulk, I try to find someone to split it with.

11. We trimmed a HUGE tree in our front yard two years ago and used most of the wood this past winter to help heat the house.

12 Hubby picks up old wood fencing that people put to the curb.  He makes CUTE bird houses and we give them away to friends and family.  Friends and family then ask for more for their friends and family.

13 We have filtered water through the fridge. So we don't buy individual plastic bottles of water.  We have bottles that we can fill, wash, and reuse.  I do wash out plastic milk jugs, fill, and freeze before hurricanes.  Because we had a generator we were able to supply ice for several of our neighbors when we were without power for 12 days due to Hurricane Ike.

We live in an unincorporated area of Houston; so we don't have city trash pickup.  Our trash pickup is paid through our water bill to the MUD district.  UNFORTUNATELY they don't offer curbside recycling and they are constantly going up on the trash and water rates.

Just remember you don't have to start doing everything all at once.  You can start small and add things when you can.  Every little bit helps!

Mary

savvy_sniper:

Just remember you don't have to start doing everything all at once.  You can start small and add things when you can.  Every little bit helps!

 

All of that is great advice Mary! Thanks for the tips!

The ways I have cut down in trash, is I use cloth bags and cloth produce bags.  The few plastic bags that do get in the house are reused, when we change the iguana cage. I do the majority of my shopping at Costco, so I am coming home with less packaging, which means less trash.  We also recycle all cans, bottles and most plastic. 

I use cloth dish cloths and napkins, so that cuts down on disposable napkins and sponges. I haven't given up paper towel altogether, as I like to clean with it. 

One other thing I need to work on, is letting the trash bag fill up completely. I don't like the garbage to sit in the house, too long, so its out of the house no more than every other day, whether it is filled up or not. I also get too many useless catalogs, which are not good for anything, other than filling up the garbage bag.

 I live alone, so don't generate much trash to begin with. I use cloth napkins, rags for cleaning, handkerchiefs, etc. (I detest sponges) Since I grow and can, dehydrate and freeze a lot of vegetables, there are few cans or frozen veg bags to dispose of. I reuse whatever I can. Vegetable bags are freezer bags, cans are containers for all sorts of things, as are boxes. I avoid buying things that are over packaged.

I put out trash to be picked up every other week and the trash can is usually not full.