Reducing: The Trash Report

Today is garbage day in my neighborhood.

Normally, that's not something I would post in a blog or any type of social media, except now it's significant because I've reduced my pick up service with the refuse haulers.

So the first Wednesday of every month, I have to remember to bring my can to the roadside for pick up.

Tiny Trash Recap

At the start of 2016, I decided to downsize my garbage, which was already pretty minimal to begin with, by most household standards.

The plan included composting everything that was biodegradable, and recycling everything I can.  The final piece was to get even more discerning about what I buy at the grocery store, which means taking a good hard look at packaging.  Plastic sneaks it's way into all packaging.  There is no escaping it.  Even things packaged in glass jars will have plastic on the lid in some fashion, if not made entirely of the stuff.  And unless you're harvesting your own fruit or getting it locally, chances are your fruit and other produce has a plastic sticker on it.

Enter Tiny Trash as a way to remind me constantly of my resolve to reduce my non biodegradable waste.  Tiny Trash is a plastic yogurt cup which I covered in decorative scrap paper (from end papers when I bind books for Pegana Press).

Thanks to Tiny Trash I have been diligent about reducing my plastic waste.  And that means it happened quicker than I thought it would.  My goal was to not generate more trash than this little cup could hold, and to empty it once a day.  But within the first week, I had cut that expectation in half, and before the first month was out, it would take about 4 days to fill this little container.

This has allowed me to reduce my trash pick up from weekly to just once a month. 

Here is one month's worth of trash in my can when I took it to the roadside.

It still seems kind of silly to have such a small amount picked up and I'm considering other options.  I estimate that with this approach, it could take me 6 months or longer to fill this can.

For now, it doesn't make sense to do away with pick up altogether.  They won't take recycling unless I have a trash can too, and having one, means I put things into it.  

Until I get to the point where I have minimized my possessions down to where I own nothing that could ever break and be discarded, I might need this can.  Until I stop buying things that come in packaging or with labels, I will need this can.  Until I stop receiving any mail at all, I might need my recycling bin.

glass recycle bin (left), trash can (center) w/Tiny Trash on top, mixed recycle bin (right).

I've changed how I think about waste, so I've been able to reduce what comes into and what goes out of my life.  It's glass pick up today too (every 4 weeks), but I only have one oil bottle in my bin, so there's no point.  I reduced glass, by using the bulk bins when I shop, and by giving excess jars to people I know who use them.  The mixed recycling bin usually takes two to three months to fill because it's so big.  Lately, I'm filling it faster because I'm working on getting rid of old papers, and I've replaced certain items I used to buy in plastic packaging with items that come in paper and cardboard.

The cat litter is one example.  I used to buy a brand called Swheat Scoop, a cat litter made from wheat.  until one day they changed from a paper bag packaging to plastic packaging.  They insisted that it was for the benefit of their customers, when I asked them.  I thought that was pretty funny.

So anyway, I changed brands, and now I use a brand called Ökocat that comes in a cardboard box  and is produced locally at a factory in my state.  I have it shipped directly to my house.  They have several types and I use the kind made from just wood, without anything added.  It works amazing! No smelly cat box at all, plus it clumps, and I can put it in the compost.  I tried the paper version at first, but it made Zöe and I cough, so I wrote to the company and asked about additives.  The woman that replied said that they did add something that was approved by the FDA.  OH, right.  That's the agency that has approved so many chemical food additives and pharmaceuticals that have proven to be unsafe and were later removed from the market.   I replied that I didn't have a lot of confidence in the FDA, and that I would use a different version of their product.

Anyway, the cardboard boxes can be recycled except for a little plastic strap handle fixed to the top of the box.  Not a perfect solution, but far better than a jumbo sized plastic bag.  Eventually, I'll probably come up with a sawdust version of my own, but for now this is working.