Garbage report: The Not-So-Trashy Girl-Next-Door

A year has passed since I started tracking my garbage trips to the curb. From the time the bin was emptied on January 4th until the end of 2011, I took the bin to the street 5 times at the following intervals: 8 weeks, 10 weeks, 8 weeks, 11 weeks, and 12 weeks.

Now I must clarify. My Utah city provides one size of bin: LARGE. Compared to zero-waste proponents out there, my 5 large trips out to the curb (for my family of 5) would be a shameful amount of trash. (I know of one Bay Area woman whose family of 4 produces approximately one quart of garbage per year.) That said, I’m guessing most of my family, friends and neighbors (and perhaps at times my husband) still think I’m a bit of a freak show.

Fair enough.

A couple of years ago I called my city utilities office to see if it would be possible to forego my garbage service and share the expense of a can with a neighbor. I was told no. “Legally” each household “must” have (and pay for) garbage service. I pay $126.00 each year, which is an average of $2.42 each week. If I were to pay only for the weeks that my garbage was picked up, this past year I would/should have paid $12.12. During the year 2012, with a projection of 3-4 trips, it should be $7-$9. During the year 2013, with a projection of 2 trips, it should be $4.84. But it will be $126. Each year.

There are many cities across the country that offer a variety of bin sizes, thus allowing home owners to pay-as-you-throw, so to speak. In my parents’ California city there are 4 choices of bin sizes, the largest of which is smaller than my bin. The city encourages low-waste and rewards residents with significantly lower waste bills. An economic incentive like that may very well be what gets people thinking about how much they send to the landfills.

[As for the recycling bin, we have successfully reduced the number of trips to the curb by half our normal rate—from every 2 weeks to every 4 weeks, with the occasional 6-week-stretch.]

For those interested in reducing garbage output, I offer 5 tips to help you get started. None of the following ideas is expensive. At all. Each is not only cheap to do, but will save you money. Really.

1. PHASE OUT DISPOSABLES. Paper napkins to cloth napkins. Paper towels to washable rags. Paper plates to real plates. Plastic cutlery to real cutlery. Plastic zip-top bags to reusable plastic containers or glass jars. Adding cloth napkins and rags to the laundry—that you are already doing—is really no extra work. No need to spend your money over and over again on garbage. (It also saves on precious home storage space.)

2. CLOTH BAGS. Bring to the store (any store—grocery, mall, craft, hardware) a couple of sturdy tote bags, a chic woven basket bag—ugly or cute, any will work just fine. Refuse shopping bags if you really don’t need one (i.e. a few items you can easily carry). We have become so accustomed to accepting plastic bags everywhere we go. It’s simple to say, “I won’t need a bag, thanks.” Easy. Stop letting people give you garbage. Use smaller cloth bags (you can buy some or sew some) or zippered mesh bags (originally designed for laundering delicates) for your grocery store produce instead of the one-time-use plastic bags.

3. FOOD EFFICIENCY. Use salad plates in place of dinner plates to reduce over-serving, and by extention food waste. (You can always serve yourself seconds.) Save leftovers. I know some people like eating leftovers in packed lunches or later in the week on a busy night. Some people I know will not eat leftovers so soon after the original meal. In that case, freezing leftovers is a great option. Though some kinds of food do not freeze well, many do just fine. Use glass jars or plastic lidded containers (not one-time-use zip-top bags) and add a label with the contents and the date. Bring it out a month or so later and it doesn’t feel like leftovers. If you want to try your hand at composting (which is really not that complicated), you could go another step toward reducing your waste output. Increasing your food efficiency and composting will put a big dent in your garbage.

4. RECYCLE. If you haven’t yet signed up for your city’s curbside pick-up, do it. You could probably sign up online or over the phone in less than 10 minutes. Done. If your city does not offer curbside pick-up you could head down to a city council meeting and ask, “Why not?” In the meantime, one of the easiest mainstream locations for recycling aluminum, plastic and, yes, glass (difficult to find in Utah) is at Target stores. Sometimes as you drive/walk around town you may see dumpsters designated for cardboard, paper, etc. Some of those are private and are not open to public recycling contributions. Some, however, like ReStore locations (benefiting Habitat for Humanity) welcome recyclable materials from the public. Keep an eye out, though, for other options. And don’t be afraid to ask; the worst they could do is say “no.” As for an extensive resource for recycling locations—and the random items that can be recycled (like used carpet and carpet padding)—earth911.com is your go-to website. Enter in what you are trying to recycle and your zip code and up pops your search result.

5. WANT LESS. Zero start-up costs. Greatest amount of savings in space, time, and money. Most difficult to do.

The thing about garbage reduction, or any other life change, is that for most people slow and steady wins the race. Changes don’t happen overnight. I tend to pick just a few things to focus on at a time. Once those are routine, I find a few more things to try. When it comes to fast food, try one fewer trip each month/week/day(?). Buy one thing used instead of new. Refuse a shopping bag or bring a reusable tote from home. Little by little those lone gestures will snowball, and before you know it . . .

You’ll be the neighborhood freak show.

Winter Craft Project: Blowing Noses, Saving Planets (Minimal Swearing)

Last year the indoor winter project was making dryer balls out of yarn. With this year’s project, I am pleased to report that there was much less cursing.

Three things: a desire to reduce our facial tissue waste, a ripped pillowcase, and a 6-year-old girl who *desperately* wanted to sew something resulted in a project upon which we now wipe our nasal discharge.

Cloth handkerchiefs.

Once elevated to dabbing a fine lady’s delicate tears or as blood-stained symbols of romantic diseases like Consumption, handkerchiefs fell out of vogue with the rise of disposable paper tissues. The disposable era, which took hold in the 1950s, has stayed strong for decades and is now considered common convention. And yet today non-disposables like handkerchiefs are going through a sort of re-nez-sance in popularity. (The French pun could not be helped.)

On laundry day I would find my son’s pockets stuffed full of wadded, ripped, paper tissues for his chronically running nose (allergies). In addition to that, the “dry compost” containers in the house were overflowing with used tissues. It was time to give washable handkerchiefs a try.

The well-used pillowcase was a perfect fit—nice and soft for tender noses. No buying new fabric. Minimal waste—the scraps (plant-derived cotton) were tossed into the compost bin.

As for the sewing portion of the project, it was perfect for my girl just starting out. Since the idea was to make something not only functional but functional for a very unglamorous purpose, I had no stress about her “doing it wrong.” She got to pick the thread colors (she chose one color for the top and a different color for the bottom), and she changed it up for each hanky. [It’s a great project to use up those spools of thread that don’t have enough for large projects.] I do not have a serger and have no patience/skills for crocheting lacy edges and embroidering monograms in the corners. (Though one could do that.) With the machine set to a basic zigzag stitch, I gave my girl a moderate amount of instructions, then sat back . . . and let her sew.

. . . the way you’d imagine a 6-year-old would sew.

It was very liberating for me to let go of the idea of perfection. She would get off course and sew inland for awhile before she noticed what was happening. I didn’t panic. She didn’t panic. She just corrected herself and continued on her way. And, when she was done, she didn’t see her mistakes, she saw her success: she just sewed handkerchiefs!! And the colors were so pretty!! And she did it all by herself!! And she was going to tell everyone what she did!!

We have since put those hankies to good(?) use. I love the dramatic reduction in tissue waste. I’m still a bit squeamish when it comes to the “ick” factor of boogers and mucus—ironic, I know, considering that we cloth diaper. I use the hankies only when what’s coming out of the nose is essentially water (thin, clear, no substance whatsoever). When it comes to anything with body to it—viscous or chunky—I still use paper tissues. Maybe the next step will be to make color-coded hankies, so as to warn anyone what may be lurking somewhere inside of that wadded cloth. Or maybe each family member will have his or her own color. Or maybe we’ll make *guest* hankies. What fun we are certain to have! There’s a crib sheet, worn through 3 babies, that has started to rip. It’s time for another go-around.

I usually keep the same hanky all day long, and then add it to the laundry pile at the end of the day.

It saves on money, landfill space, and home storage space. It re-uses what you already have, and adds, in essence, no extra work in your weekly routine. Great project for a chilly winter day.