Clicky Poll - trash!!!

papagena · December 2009

[Poll]

lar1203 · December 2009

2 large bags- dh is a paper towel-aholic and i can't get him to put all the recyclables in the recycling containers.

Temp76535187505890 · December 2009

I said two but up until a few weeks ago (coincidence that it coincides with DH's return, no?) it was barely even 1 full bag.

triumphantreturnofplanningbug · December 2009

I miss composting Crying

Lotte134 · December 2009

ArmyQM:
(coincidence that it coincides with DH's return, no?)

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.............. Geeked

papagena · December 2009

Ok - who said 0 and how do you do it?!

eminen · December 2009

We take 1 good sized bag about every 3 - 4 weeks.

ETA: we don't have kids.

papagena · December 2009

eminen:
We take 1 good sized bag about every 3 - 4 weeks.
ETA: we don't have kids.

*sigh* Impressive - even w/o the kiddos! Honestly, DS doesn't contribute much at this point to our trash load since we CD.

Laroogirl · December 2009

Hard to compare if you don't use large trash bags. We use only kitchen sized bags and have between 2 and 3 per week. We fill them with the garbage from the bathrooms too. I usually sort through them a little to weed out recycleables that DH forgets to put in the recycling can.

TCsbride · December 2009

We usually empty our trash every 2-3 days, so I said three bags. We're constantly remodeling our house so it seems like there is always something we're buying that has a bunch of trash with it like door knobs. Seriously...why does a door knob need so much packaging?!?! And we just had to buy 5 new ones for the new doors in the basement (that is being remodeled).

Thankfully, the old doors were n good enough shape that we took them to Habitat Reuse Center.

georgia_peachy · December 2009

Ok I put 0 but to clarify: We usually have 1 half full forceflex bag per month. Sometimes less. We recycle or compost pretty much everything and there are only 2 of us with no children (and I think that makes a big difference). Really the only things that I havent' figured out a way to not throw away are dog food bags (They've got like a plastic-y lining with wax papery middle layer and then a glossy outermost layer ....yes I did try tearing them apart to see if I could salvage any of it) and mylar bags (from chips),bones from meat, and the wax paper our meat comes in. We have 2 big recycling bins that we set out each week and our worms compost everything else (See the book "Worms eat my garbage"). I even tried haggling with the garbage company to only come once every other month because I was tired of paying $20/month for a service I don't use. Basically if I dont' have garbage service, though, they won't allow me to have recycling service. So I reluctantly keep it.

smurfetteinred · December 2009

mylar bags (from chips), There's a way to turn these into reusable snack bags. I have a link if you're a crafty type.

bones from meat SOUP! Although that won't get rid of them, you can boil them down with vegetable scraps and you've got free stock. Then compost the vegetable scraps like you would have anyway and the bones still make it to the trash but at least you got another life out of them.

georgia_peachy · December 2009

smurfetteinred:

mylar bags (from chips), There's a way to turn these into reusable snack bags. I have a link if you're a crafty type.

bones from meat SOUP! Although that won't get rid of them, you can boil them down with vegetable scraps and you've got free stock. Then compost the vegetable scraps like you would have anyway and the bones still make it to the trash but at least you got another life out of them.

I would LOVE a link to turning those into reusable snack bags!

The bones we always turn into stock. Usually I freeze a bunch of carcasses of the same type (chicken together, beef bone etc) with leftover bits of carrot sticks/onions/celery and then once I get a big tupperware full I put them all in the crock pot with some water and salt/pepper and cook on slow overnight. Usually there's enough for a BIG pot of soup (just skim out all the bones and scummies) to be cooked in the same crockpot the next day or in the summer I can it for the pantry (pph my pressure canner!)

Poonico · December 2009

SS

We are under 1 bag. More like a grocery bag or two per week. I think we may cancel our garbage pick up. DH goes to the landfill on occasion for work, but not as much as he used to.

We recycle most everything here at the house and he does the same at work. Some things we can't recycle here though. We need to find a way to recycle drywall, shingles and other building materials that can't be reused.

papagena · December 2009

Very impressive, Georgia. I think I have a new mission... hmm.... I might have to look into vermi composting. I wonder if it would be warm enough in our basement.

We're lucky - we use a city-wide composting program, and they do enough & have it out in the open so they take meat & bones. It's fabulous, and one of the reasons I don't want to bother doing our own, despite the benefits of having our own free compost. (there are additional reasons as well, though, but that's the best one)

Poonico · December 2009

smurfetteinred:
mylar bags (from chips), There's a way to turn these into reusable snack bags. I have a link if you're a crafty type.

Would love the link! We can't recycle those here.

georgia_peachy · December 2009

papagena:

Very impressive, Georgia. I think I have a new mission... hmm.... I might have to look into vermi composting. I wonder if it would be warm enough in our basement.

We're lucky - we use a city-wide composting program, and they do enough & have it out in the open so they take meat & bones. It's fabulous, and one of the reasons I don't want to bother doing our own, despite the benefits of having our own free compost. (there are additional reasons as well, though, but that's the best one)

As long as they don't freeze it's warm enough for the worms. I know people that do keep bins outdoors even in the winter but insulated with straw etc. I'm not that hard core. We have 2 converted rubbermaid containers with the worms in the garage (connected to the kitchen). It's not heated but it doesn't freeze so they're OK. I keep a little bucket that has a lid under the kitchen sink to collect the scraps and then when i have my food processer out I quickly pulse whatever's in the bucket so the worms can do a better job breaking it down. Some people say this defeats the purpose b/c of the electricity usage, but I use the compost for my gardens and need it to be well broken down come spring and fall, not just to reduce my waste.

But another benefit: when I "harvest" the compost the little girl I mentor is completely obsessed with finding the egg casings and "baby" worms. It's hours of entertainment for us both.

nikll34 · December 2009

I clicked 1 bag per week, but we really only use 1 medium sized trash bag every 1.5-2 weeks. We recycle and re-use a lot of things. I save a lot of materials for arts and crafts too.