RECYCLE, COMPOST, TRASH

I am writing this mainly because I want to show off my great recycling center. As I told you before, we had our backyard deck rebuilt this summer. One of my requests was to have some space for storing my recycling bins. Earlier, they were just sitting on the deck in plain ugly view. I had thought about it for a while and decided that a bench on the deck could provide both sitting, and storage underneath. For my recycling. We had some trouble at first, because I didn’t spell it out to the carpenter, and the bins wouldn’t fit under the bench at first, but it all turned out great in the end, as you can see from the photo. I am very happy with this system. We have a smallish house and there is no space to store anything in the kitchen, so the deck is a perfect option, even in winter. Now, I have just seen some nicer, black recycling bins in Home Depot… well, let’s wait some 20 years for these ones to break, right?

After moving to our new home, our trash – recycling habits have made a big turn. When we lived in the apartment, we use to produce one big bag of trash every other day. No recycling whatsoever. My husband, who was doing the job of carrying the huge trash bags down the stairs three or four times a week, was expressing his concern all the time “We make so much trash! Where does it all come from?”. And then we moved.

The first time we went to buy town trash bags, we were in for a shock. 60 dollars, for 20 big bags! Whoaw! Ok, so the trash is not free anymore? That called for a change. Yes, this pay as you go for trash system is a big, big incentive. It was for us. I also need to confess, that for once or twice, in the weeks when we had both the house and the apartment, we took some trash from the house to throw at the apartment complex. Ok? Just don’t tell on us. We don’t want the Major Case Squad knocking at our door. Although, Det. Goren is welcome anytime in our house, to snoop around, and do some of his profiling. Wouldn’t that be nice? All right, stop dreaming, and go back to the little less appealing subject of the trash.

In the first few months of our living at the house, we would fill one big trash bag every week. Sometimes even a small one on the side. But I blame that on the moving, and buying of stuff needed at the new house. As we settled in, our trash production plummeted. To one small bag per week. To one small bag per two weeks. And I am confident we can take it farther, as we learn to recycle everything, and we use very few disposable products. Did you know that empty toothpaste tubes can be recycled? We use Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, and I just found out we can recycle the tubes.

The most difficult thing to implement, though, has been the composting. We do not have a sink disposal. Had one in the apartment, and loved it. Here, we decided, we can be more eco-friendly by starting a compost pile. Especially when we are trying to garden. Well, we are not very crafty – handy people. We do our best, though. After being appalled by the idea for a long time, after swearing this was one thing I would never do (come on, we are talking worms here!), I started to consider it. Many benefits. Unless I accept I am really lazy, no real drawbacks (I completely blocked the squirming worms imagery). So I started the easiest way I could find. I bought some big paper bags from the grocery store, that were said to be great for composting. I filled it nicely, with kitchen scraps, twigs, and soil until a bad rainy week came over, accompanied by wild animal attacks, and all my pile ended up sprawled on the ground. Not nice.

I had read somewhere online that you can buy a big trash can, make some holes in its bottom, and use it as a compost bin.  After a quick trip to Home Depot, we ended up with this beautiful treasure.

My husband pierced holes in the bottom with a nail. It should be good, right?

Now I am left to wonder how quickly will it decompose, or fill up. My husband still needs to dig up a hole at the back of the yard to throw everything there once it fills up. Or maybe we’ll end up buying a second bin (I wouldn’t mind that one bit).

So less trash, more recycling, more composting. This is it. How much more can one write about trash?