There used to be a whole lot of trash. At least 7 large trashbags per week. There was also additional cleaning out trash. Granted there were more of us. When Debbie moved in we had a lot of cleaning out trash making room for her and Eli, so we ordered double trash bins. Our trash bins were like mini dumpsters. Square, on wheels and with a bar handle. The trash service provided them for a fee and we had two of them.
One day I was going over our finances seeing where I could cut expenses. At that time I got rid of the second little dumpster. I also decided it was time to start recycling, and being more responsible. Can I just say go from being completely irresponsible to taking on some responsibility. Of course I can't just take an old box and start collecting and rinsing the recyclables. I have to go all out and buy special recycling boxes. I was pretty sure Mark wasn't going to be on board with this so I was even more outlandish about the whole thing. I wasn't even doing it to be responsible to the earth but to prove that I could save money. The recycling has evolved over the course of a year from being largely selfish to really being about the earth. I had so much recycling. Bags and bags and boxes, until my whole trunk is full every week and it is such a huge chore to dump it.
Ok, I have to add this in here, because later in this piece you will see what happens to people when they start making better choices. It wasn't easy at first because my husband had a really bad habit of drinking beer non-stop the whole time he was at home. So that's the minute he came home from work. I was always angry about it because I felt like he had to drink to stand being in this family, and that made me feel bad. Anyway it also made me mad because it was expensive and made a whole lot of trash.
It was quickly realized that over half the recyclables were beer cans. He didn't like that and refused to recycle them, after seeing me pick them out of the trash he decided to just leave them everywhere in plain sight. After all, it was my project. And he wasn't the only one. The kids and relatives coming over all the time drinking and littering my deck and yard and house with cans and glass. I really got mad about it when they butt there cigs out in the cans because then I really couldn't recycle them. Anyway, there I was rinsing out everyone's stuff, everyday, crushing cans etc.
I had a really bad habit of using disposable tableware. Not just for occassions but every day. We phased that out. I made a really scary decision to wash dishes, everyday. It was still about the amount of trash we had and were paying to have hauled away. It still didn't have much to do with saving the environment and our beautiful world.
I had already started composting the summer of 2009. I started composting because my vegetable gardens were so pitiful most of the time and I couldn't afford to go out and buy organic compost or soil to build it up so I started composting. Of course I had to make a big deal about it. I had to research it and print out instructions and make a journal in a binder to record stuff. Anyway I made a big deal about and totally turned my husband off the whole thing. I started a pile under the big old apple tree. It was a long trek from the house especially in the winter. So I didn't do a very good job the winter of 2009-2010 and towards the end of winter we had a storm which broke the tree and it fell down onto my compost pile. It stayed there until the end of the growing season of 2010 when my husband took out the tree exposing my little unsuccessful pile. The chickens immediately converged and that was the end of that pile.
My f-i-l brought a black speedy composter over sometime towards the end of summer and I finally got Mark to put it by the deck so I could use it properly over the winter.
Anyway, back to trash. I had been doing a lot of research about food and health and I'll tell you it is endless. I decided to examine everything I was buying to see if it could be made at home. I didn't get much to harvest out of the garden last summer but I did harvest the roosters. The hens began to lay eggs in August. I was getting 10 on average a day. I had been thinking a lot about working to provide food like our ancestors did. Well, some of our ancestors did. I had a longing for a more simple, hardworking and meaningful life.
I had eggs, lots and lots of eggs. I was selling eggs and still had an overabundance of them. So it was noodles. I got my pasta machine out and made noodles, spaghetti, dumpling, ravioli etc. That was fun, very good exercise and delicious. My husband had recently quit drinking beer and was hungry for deserts. So there were cookies and cakes and puddings and pies. Amazing what you can do with eggs milk and flour. The point is this. First off, if you are making it you aren't buying it and whatever packaging it came in. Secondly, if you are making it you can control what is in it and subsequently what is going into you and your family's bodies.
Anyway, the first clue that this new lifestyle choice was paying off is that my husband was loving up the food. He isn't as chunky as he was when he was drinking, but he's a lot more normal looking than when he first lost all that weight and had to cinch his pants together. At first he actually looked sad because he was much too skinny, but now he looks like a happily married man that doesn't need to drink beer.
So I was looking for a movie at Blockbuster one day and found the movie, "No Impact Man". I rented it. I was afraid Mark wouldn't be interested in it but he was and we have now watched it several times and I may just have to buy it. For me it isn't about copying what the people in the movie did and go back to the cave man days. What I need to do is to look at my lifestyle and figure out what I can do better and what I can live without. It is more about less impact, and how much less. Can I produce less waste, whether it be recycling or just trash? Can I use less of all the consumable things? What can I live without? What can I change?
The 3 R's. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Each are equally important to the issue. So it is February and my word for February is REDUCE. We are on the 10th day and the trash can is just over half filled. Some of that could probably have gone in the compost. Not sure if I want to pick through it though. Anyway I did take a picture at 7 days.
Mostly it's plastic stuff that doesn't get recycled. Plus there is some food items in there which can't go into the compost since we are definitely omnivores if you hadn't guessed. I am seriously making a list of everything in that trash bin.
I'm remembering that this needed to be emptied everyday. So we just saved 14 bags from going to who knows where.
If 10 families, only 10 saved 14 bags each that would be 140 fewer bags from going to trash. If 100 families did that it would be 1400 less bags of trash. You get what I'm saying. The impact would be unbelievable. Still there is the problem of the toxic plastics being thrown away and what to do with them. Also from a practicle standpoint, what to do with the one little bag per month. I find it very hard to pay a trash service 20 bucks a month to haul away one little bag once a month. It is a dilemma that I have, if 4 pick ups are available for my 20 bucks and I get to fill up a whole bin each time then I feel I should get my money's worth. If I'm not getting my money's worth then I feel ripped off. What if the trash company only charged you for the amount they actually hauled. Then they would feel ripped off because it still costs them to drive around. But what if they are driving around anyway, right past my house. Anyway I've still got to figure this part out because I already cancelled my trash service.
It is definitely not the easy way. Making less trash is just a part of and a result of a type of lifestyle. Making the change is what is not easy and maintaining it is to choose a lifestyle that is not easy.
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