Last Wednesday before heading over to exercise I did what I do every week: pull the garbage can to the curb (like above). When I lifted the can, I noticed that it was pretty light, so I looked inside. For the first time in, say, forever, it was empty. So I went back inside to gather up our garbage and discovered that there wasn't enough to even take out. Hmmmm....
We have been heading in this direction for a while. We have always recycled newspapers and things in the plastics/cans category, but in recent years we've stepped it up a bit. Now, every bit of unuseable paper (and believe me, we use it till it's unuseable) gets recycled. I even keep containers upstairs for paper and plastic recycling lest I'm tempted to take the easy route and throw them away rather than cart them downstairs. It also helps that our recycling center, SOCCRA, now allows all plastics, not just 1's and 2's.
Then we got better at keeping things that were not curb recyclable but could be taken to SOCCRA, such as batteries, paints, coated paper milk and juice cartons, plastic bags, etc. So about once a month we go to SOCCRA and get rid of what we've collected. And you'd be amazed at the number of people who are doing likewise -- it's always crowded when we're there.
The final nail in the garbage coffin was our most recent adaptation to composting. This is something that takes a while to get used to, but once you do, you simply cannot put food scraps into plastic bags any more, thinking of them fermenting in landfills when they could be useful in your garden. We have refined our composting methodology over the past year for maximum benefit (best idea: keep a nice composting bucket on your counter - you will use it).
So there you have one way of becoming a 'no-garbage' garbage day household. As you can see, it just kind of evolves. And just like me, you'll really enjoy not taking the garbage out.
No comments:
Post a Comment