I Can't Believe how much trash I generate !!

[fordy]

...........Go ahead take your Best Shot , lol ! OK , now I seem to create a full load for the dumpster every week ! I'm only consuming for one person and my plastic sacks fill up quickly . I do purchase plastic gallon water containers , and plastic Coffeemate in the quart size . Egg containers for 18 eggs , Can't Believe containers in small size , paper towels , etc . No wonder I see so much trash blowing around on the side of the road . We , as a nation , are Victims of our conspicious consumption ! , fordy

[starjj]

I feel the same way. I am only one person but it seems like I go through plastic garbage bags like crazy. I burn my garbage but still it seems like we (as a country) generate way way too much trash.

[BetsyK in Mich]

I make a lot of trash also, considering that I buy very few canned food, nothing in ready to eat boxes, wash and reuse my plastic bags and containers, compost my food waste, recycle paper and refuse to use paper towels. A half gallon of milk will last me for a couple weeks so not a lot of plastic jugs. I was thinking about this the other day as I put another bag in the barrel in the shop. How can I stop creating this much waste?

[beccachow]

We have a family of three, and likewise, I get so frustrated at how much garbage we generate as well. I blame packagers as well as us, though, for over packaging the products. I also am sure this is why things are so expensive.

[Wisconsin Ann]

Surprisingly, we don't generate a lot. 1 trashbag a week. Cans and plastic and paper items all get recycled, but even that is only taken out once evry 3 weeks.

I reuse things like cottage cheese containers for storage. We don't get a newspaper, but if we did, I'd be using that for the fire anyway. I don't use paper towels. (Artificer likes them, so he'll buy a bundle once in awhile.

Our water is good, so we don't need to spend $$ on purchased water.

Our town has now gone to automatic garbage lifter truck thing, so we were all given 1 garbage container and 1 recycle container. There are a couple of places on our road that are going to have a tough time fitting their weekly garbage into the 1 container. The guy next door is one of them. 2 people, late 20s...and they have a pile of 4 or 5 garbage bags plus a huge box of recyclable out each week.

Think of it this way, Fordy...you are doing your bit to keep the guys at the trash land fill employed

[Wayne02]

Originally Posted by Wisconsin Ann

Our town has now gone to automatic garbage lifter truck thing, so we were all given 1 garbage container and 1 recycle container.

Is the trash pickup free?

[Stephen in SOKY]

Perhaps garbage compacters will come back into fashion? I haven't seen one installed in a new house in years.

[NCLee]

Over packaging is one of the main problems. Small stuff in big packages to keep it from growing legs and walking out of the stores. Bigger stuff in bigger packages to:

------ Crowd out the other similar products on the shelves.

------ Looks like you're getting what the package size indicates. Bought a bulk pack of alka-Seltzer plus a while back. 36 packs in the box. The dispenser box could have held 72 packs instead of 72 tablets. Grrrrrrrrrrr.......

We've tried to cut back on our trash that goes to the landfill, but it's a never ending battle. Can only save so many peanut butter jars for shop storage projects. There's more "stuff" in the newspaper than newsprint. Junk mail.

I now buy refill bottles of hand soap, dish detergent, glass cleaner, etc. Means few plastic bottles for the trash. Buy bulk packages of other things when its practical to do so. Instant non-fat dry milk is an example. More economical, plus there's fewer boxes going into the trash.

Lee

[Ken Scharabok]

I am also single. I take maybe two bags of household trash to the dumpster site A YEAR. Nothing comes into this place without a recycling consideration being made on it.

Now I do have more farm/shop trash.

[RusticOkie]

Dh and I were just talking about this the other day. If we would get better about recycling we wouldn't have nearly as much. Unfortunately we don't have the space right now (working on making a space) and the recycling center is over 45 minutes away so not very convenient for us.

Of course I swear that half our trash is diapers. Thankfully dd is getting good at using her potty, of course we have another one on the way so it won't get better. And no, I'm not switching to cloth diapers.

[fordy]

..............The one item I'd like too eliminate is those one gallon water containers , But , a 5 gallon bottle is just TOO bulky and heavy to 1.)haul up the steps on my trailer and , 2.)too operate inside my trailer , not enough room . Although , I may yet purchase a standup water machine and try it for a while . , fordy

[Harry Chickpea]

fordy - two possibilities: Get a Berkey water filter and filter your water, or a countertop distiller and distill water. We do both. The Berkey will pay for itself within a year, and the distiller is a heat source in the winter months. A gallon of distilled water will cost roughly 30 cents in the distiller because of the power used, but if you use electric space heating it is a wash in the winter. The longterm cost of the Berkey is minimal - amortize it off the first year, and it is pretty much free for the next three or four years.

[Wisconsin Ann]

Fordy, if the walter filter or distiller ideas won't work for you, you COULD put the 5gallon container outside, and fill up a 1gallon reusable jug from it to bring inside.

[Wolf mom]

They make 3 gal jugs - also 2 gal.

A guy I know opens items with large packaging around them when he walks out of a store & dumps the wrapping in a trash container there. Of course, he has no trash pick up.

[fishhead]

One person here. I make 2 trips to the landfill each year with my little truck. It amounts to less than 10 garbage cans a year. Everything that can be recycled is recycled. I don't burn anything.

[calliemoonbeam]

Hey Fordy, I have to use bottled water too and, while I can tote the big five-gallon jugs, it's not easy or easy to pour out of them. I discovered three-gallon bottles and started using them, and then I discovered a really neat dispenser. The old kind were the ones where you had to pick the bottle up, turn it upside down and insert it into the dispenser, usually spilling water everywhere, lol. The one I got has a connector on the bottom, you just connect it to the top of the bottle, then slide the bottle inside the cabinet and close the door. Easy and no having to look at the ugly bottle, the dispenser is black and stainless, very nice to look it, and it dispenses icy cold or scalding hot water on tap.

But now I have a Berkey and have been using it to just filter my own water, so I have lots of water bottles sitting around. I just keep them full in case of emergency. I actually miss the water dispenser though, been trying to think of some way to combine the two for the best of both worlds, lol.

I know what you mean about trash too. I try to buy things in the largest bulk package I can, so there's less packaging overall, and I try to reuse everything I can. But I still usually have 1-2 big green bags a week for the trash man.

[littlebitfarm]

Originally Posted by fordy

..............The one item I'd like too eliminate is those one gallon water containers , But , a 5 gallon bottle is just TOO bulky and heavy to 1.)haul up the steps on my trailer and , 2.)too operate inside my trailer , not enough room . Although , I may yet purchase a standup water machine and try it for a while . , fordy

I just keep refilling the water jugs. When they start leaking they go to the garden to cover seedlings. When they die they get tossed.

Kathie

[fordy]

Originally Posted by Harry Chickpea

fordy - two possibilities: Get a Berkey water filter and filter your water, or a countertop distiller and distill water. We do both. The Berkey will pay for itself within a year, and the distiller is a heat source in the winter months. A gallon of distilled water will cost roughly 30 cents in the distiller because of the power used, but if you use electric space heating it is a wash in the winter. The longterm cost of the Berkey is minimal - amortize it off the first year, and it is pretty much free for the next three or four years.

............I've heard about those Harry , so I may start watching Craigs list for a used model . , thanks , fordy

[PulpFaction]

I very rarely buy edibles in plastic containers if I can help it. I save all plastic cups I do get, as well as tin cans, for seed starting. The plastic tubs also make useful food storage or other storage containers until you have too many of them.

I use re-useable grocery bags so I don't have to worry about having countless grocery bags floating around. (I get what I do need from friends or neighbors, if I need them to pick up dog waste, etc.)

Anything that comes in a re-sealable plastic bag...well, when it's gone the bag gets washed out and saved. I use these for food storage and seed starting as well. Keeps me from having to buy zip-lock bags and sandwich bags.

My milk jugs get saved for planting uses as well. The tops are good for putting over small plants until danger of frost is past, the bottoms are also good for seed starting. I use the occasional small soda bottle as self-waterers for my large container plants by cutting the ends off and drilling or poking small holes in the bottom, and leaving the top open to pour water into.

I get card-board egg cartons and since I don't currently have chickens, they go into my worm bins, along with any other non-slick paper or cardboard (shredded).

Almost all of my kitchen scraps get sorted and divvied up between the dog, the rabbit and the worms.

I found that the single thing that helped me cut down on the most waste was buying at Cost-Co. Fewer packages, and the packaging that I did get was more re-useable for other things because it is a larger size.

I generate very little trash, typically, following these rules of thumb. I prefer REAL foods that don't have a lot of packaging (fresh fruits and veggies, for example, whole grains, etc.) When I do have far too many re-useable items to USE, I post them on Craigslist first and if there are no takers, I recycle them.

AND, I do all of this because it is a LOT cheaper. The food is cheaper on the front end, and at $2 per bag to dump my garbage, I have good incentive to cut back. I haven't filled up a single bag yet this month.

[clovis]

We are a family of three, and you would be surprised how little trash is set out each week. Most weeks, we only set out one small trash bag a week. Everything else is recycled.

If we had recycling here for #5 and #6 plastics, I bet our trash volume would be one bag every two weeks.

Our neighbors, a family of two, set out 7 to 8 large bags a week, and only recycle their newspapers.

They think we are doing something strange because we only have one small bag a week.

Clove