Every year, the United States generates approximately 230 million tons of "trash"--about 4.6 pounds per person per day. Less than one-quarter of it is recycled; the rest is incinerated or buried in landfills.
Nicole and I live one mile from the town line. Our town line literately touches the line of the town of Auburn. This means that our mailing address is Auburn, but we "live" in Owasco. Aurbun pays more taxes. Owasco doesn't have trash or recycling pick-up. Less taxes yes, but we either need to take our trash to the recycling center for $2.25 a bag (our recycling efforts are free there) or pay to have a company come out to get our trash and recycling.
Through this finding, we have decided to green our trash (cut back on the amount we make by quite a bit).
How are we doing this?
First, we are recycling more. A lot more. We previously recycled the basic four - paper, plastic, tin and glass, but now we are rethinking everything that goes into the trash. If there is any chance it can be recycled or reused, we are doing it.
We are also starting not one, but two composting piles. The first is for yard waste, latex (yes, condoms can be put in the compost), old (shredded) clothing that can't be reused, and other similar items. The second is a worm composting bin otherwise know as vermicomposting which uses worms to break down food waste, shredded mail and paper. Worms make beautiful castings (read poo) that are great for mixing in with the soil in gardens. I decided to get a worm bin after I spent some quantity time getting up close and personal with the composting of others food waste. No worm method can be so much more smelly!
The last major thing we are doing as we rethink our trash amount is paying attention to what we buy. Does the item we are purchasing come in plastic that we can't recycle (because no place around here takes it)? Is there an option to purchase the item in bulk as a means to at least cut down on the trash? We are trying very hard to stay way from non-recyclable packaging and other things that we have to throw away. For example, when we were shopping yesterday for our reunion vacation we decided not to get the individually packaged tea to-go packs (as seen here) because each package is plastic which we can't recycle. Instead we opted to get a 96 serving Gatorade container that is larger, but once used can be reused either in our house or we will donate to the Science Center in Ithaca for their craft department.
Worm introduction is coming soon! Think green until then!
wow, i stopped reading at condoms! (i was able to compose myself and continue! you learn something new every day. i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that i doubt the recycle folks want condoms in there. we have to rinse the salsa out of our glass jars before recycling, that's way easier than, um, latex.)
ReplyDeleteLol. I totally see your point, but condoms go into the composting bin NOT the recycle or the worm bin. Latex of all types including balloons, gloves etc can be composted. . .but not recycled! ;)
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