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We are fortunate to have the county recycle center right up the road. We have never recycled, but all our trash was picked up and taken there..hassle-free.
Now, in order to save money, we're getting rid of our dumpster (we previously had a lot of business waste, but no longer).
We can get rid of paper, glass, plastic, and cans for free, and miscellaneous, unsorted trash@ $1.50 a bag.
It all seems a bit confusing at first, but what I'm doing so far is putting all cans, glass and plastic in one bin to separate later, and misc. in another and newspapers and catalogs separate. I have two cans in the kitchen, but don't want any more. Nor do I want to go to the garage evey time I throw something away.
So what's a workable system for you?
We are fortunate to have the county recycle center right up the road. We have never recycled, but all our trash was picked up and taken there..hassle-free.
Now, in order to save money, we're getting rid of our dumpster (we previously had a lot of business waste, but no longer).
We can get rid of paper, glass, plastic, and cans for free, and miscellaneous, unsorted trash@ $1.50 a bag.
It all seems a bit confusing at first, but what I'm doing so far is putting all cans, glass and plastic in one bin to separate later, and misc. in another and newspapers and catalogs separate. I have two cans in the kitchen, but don't want any more. Nor do I want to go to the garage evey time I throw something away.
So what's a workable system for you?
Well, here in Columbia, we have curbside recycling which makes it quite easy. However, the bin isn't very big, so we only put our plastics and glass in it. I use paper grocery bags to collect newspaper/junk mail, use old boxes from work to throw food boxes into, and have a separate trash barrel for aluminum & steel cans (however, I'll keep a smaller bag - like a Target shopping bag - in the house and throw the cans in there until the bag fills up - rinsing them out of course to help prevent bugs). Once they are full, I take them to the recycling center here in town and redeem them for money, not a lot (think I got like $15 last time), but just look at is as a small benefit for doing my part to help the environment. I find I only need to put the trash out every other week, and even then the can is usually not full (although, in the summer, I'll put it out weekly regardless b/c it can really smell bad if it sits an extra week in the hot temperatures). Trash/recycling pick-up is part of our property taxes here, regardless of the quantity.
We have a kitchen cabinet that is difficult to access, so we use it for everything that can be recycled. We clean everything out and crush it and then put it in. (cans from canned goods can be easily crushed if you use the can opener on the bottom after rinsing it out) Everything gets picked up Friday morning, so on Thursday afternoon, we haul everything out of the cabinet and sort it. Paper goes in one paper bag, metal in another, plastic in another, cardboard in another, etc. The guys who pick it up always dump the paperbags and put them right back in the recycle bin for us to use again. The recycle bin lives in the garage when not in use as our apartment doesn't have the space for it.
The trashcan we've been allotted is HUGE. I think it would take us approximately three months to fill it. We throw away about one bag of trash a week (plastic grocery bag sized) because we recycle pretty much everything (even small items like grocery store receipts) and we compost and we have a bin of worms. Plus, we don't have subscriptions to any newspapers or magazines, we pay all our bills online and receive all bills and statements online. We buy a lot of our food in bulk and reuse the bags it comes as trash bags, so packaging is kept at a minimum. In fact, we often bypass an item or a brand entirely if the amount of packaging is horrifying. We don't buy bottled water--we use a britta filter on our tap water, so we don't have a lot of plastic bottles. We carry our own cloth shopping bags unless we need a couple of disposable bags for trash. I use cloth pads when I'm menstruating, so we don't have anything extra to put in the garbage when I'm on my period. We also re-use some containers. My boyfriend is addicted to juice and since we needed more containers for some of the food we've been buying in bulk, rather than recycling the empty juice bottles, we are washing them out and putting them to use.
Oh, and I keep a container in the fridge for the food scraps destined for the composter so that we don't have to make a trip out to the backyard for every little scrap AND we're not putting out invitations for roach guests. *shudder*
We are always on the lookout for ways to reduce what we consume, whether it be goods or the packaging and trash that comes with goods/services.
I am fortunate in that we can put most of our recyclables in a plastic bag and take it to our green boxes where they take the bags for prisoners to separate. So mine just goes in one big bag and then into the garage until I take it.
What I have done in the past is I'll have 4-5 different bins in my garage, right outside the door. You could have one bin in the kitchen for everything and then when that gets full separate it when it is time to take it to the garage.
I too also have a compost and never thought to keep it in the fridge. That is a good idea that I'll start adopting so that I'm not running to the compost all the time.
We are fortunate to have the county recycle center right up the road. We have never recycled, but all our trash was picked up and taken there..hassle-free.
Now, in order to save money, we're getting rid of our dumpster (we previously had a lot of business waste, but no longer).
We can get rid of paper, glass, plastic, and cans for free, and miscellaneous, unsorted trash@ $1.50 a bag.
It all seems a bit confusing at first, but what I'm doing so far is putting all cans, glass and plastic in one bin to separate later, and misc. in another and newspapers and catalogs separate. I have two cans in the kitchen, but don't want any more. Nor do I want to go to the garage evey time I throw something away.
So what's a workable system for you?
Good post gentlearts! Actually we recycle everything and do not send any garbage to the land fill as well are adamantly apposed to landfills or burying garbage. Nothing in the USA should be manufactured or sold if you cannot recycle it.
Thanks, all. Our center specifically doesn't want us to crush cans, so that takes up space. We live in the country, so we could compost and also burn if we chose to. I suspect when we familiarize ourselves and get comfortable with the process...it seems a little confusing at first.. we will get to the point where we could get rid of everything for free, but for now, baby steps.
As for me, I think when I get comfortable it will become like a game in which I only win if I can get rid of every bit of waste for free.
We have many stores here in the Portland (Oregon) metro area, which take a minimal amount off of your grocery tab if you bring in your own paper grocery bags. Some of the food coops will credit you up to .25cents per bag.
We also have curbside recycling for paper products, glass, tins, etc. It makes it pretty hard not to get involved. The garbage companies hand out literature which explains how best to recycle, and where you can recylce old computers, electronics, and yard debris.
Isn't it amazing how much trash just one family can produce? It may be a small thing to do individually, but recycling has a huge impact when hundreds of thousands of people are doing it. Excellent subject, gentlearts!
We have curbside recycling, so that makes the basics easier. We just rinse and throw aluminum, glass, plastic and paper into our blue bins and they're picked up once a week.
We use our own bags for grocery shopping (chico bags), but we still accumulate some plastic bags. Our local grocery store has a bin outside specifically for plastic bags, so I drop the extras in there.
Batteries can be recycled at our local Best Buy store - just drop them in the bin.
Plastic pots from landscaping are collected by a local nursery - really nice of them to do that . It's Trad's, in case anyone reading lives in Jacksonville.
Leftover house paint and such can be brought to a city collection center for hazardous waste. They let people come in and pick up the free paint if they want it.
Any landscaping debris I can't take care of myself - tree limbs, for example - are picked up curbside and turned into mulch that the city offers for free to anyone who wants it (it can even be delivered to your house).
I just found out our local utility service company, which is city-owned, has begun recycling our sewage biosolids into lawn fertilizer, which is pretty cool. Keeps the poops local !:
Lastly, the Christmas tchotchkes I inevitably get from my MIL each year go straight to Goodwill and hopefully into the home of someone who loves them .
Earth911 is a great site for finding ways to recycle items in your area/town .
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. It's Trad's, in case anyone reading lives in Jacksonville.
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