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Thread: Zero (or minimal) waste

  1. #1
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    Zero (or minimal) waste

    So for the second time in 2017 I have had to call the trash service and complain that they did not empty our trash can. Also, there were two weeks I didn't even take the can up. I am paying $25 a month for this service. However, it is tied to my recycling.

    i'm trying to find a drop location to take my recycling and then I want to cancel the trash. Dh is very opposed to cancelling the trash. I'm going to try to get him to commit to 30 days. (We can sign up and cancel every 30 days without penalty, so at the very least I could cut the trash bill in half by making the same number of phone calls I'm making now just to complain.)

    my boss has told me in the past that I am welcome to throw away any household trash that fits in my wastebasket at school (I work twice a week and my wastebasket at school is bigger than the amount of trash We usually generate in a week) and that leaves summer - there is a trash can next to the grocery cart return, and 90% of my trash comes from the grocery store in the first place, so I think that about does it.

    Things like the bucket with a hole in it we could put in a trash can and then sign up for trash service, say, every August? If we need to.

    but I'm trying really hard to not create trash.

    is anybody here living/aspiring to the zero waste lifestyle and interested in offering support?

  2. #2
    Moderator Float On's Avatar
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    I can tell you we gave up trash service years ago and save a ton. We take our trash cans to the transfer station about every 6 or 8 weeks and it costs us $5 (based on scales weight). We recycle at our community recycle center. I compost everything I can. I miss my chickens they ate everything.
    Float On: My "Happy Place" is on my little kayak in the coves of Table Rock Lake.

  3. #3
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    I would be happy to pay a reasonable amount to dispose of my trash, but my choices are:
    $25 a month service to have it (sometimes) picked up at the road
    $50 "tipping fee" plus poundage and gas to take it to the dump myself
    use "free" (to me) public/work/customer trash cans. (Although I am subsidizing the customer cans through prices and some of the public cans through taxes. My classroom waste basket is a 'perk')

    i compost (in fact 2 days a week I reduce the school garbage by putting out and bringing home compost pails)
    i have chickens
    i can recycle type 1&2 plastics, plastic bottle tops, metals, glass, paper, cardboard (although I use some in the garden) plastic bags, light bulbs, some electronics, eyeglasses, batteries, and clean fabric. But some of that is curb pick up, so I need to find a drop location.

    do you eat meat or buy snacks like chips Float On? If so, what do you do with the packaging?

  4. #4
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    In some places it is not allowed to cancel your trash. I found this out when I had an empty house we were trying to sell and I tried to cancel the trash. They did give me a reduced rate but that was ridiculous.

  5. #5
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    nope, I asked. I can cancel my trash. (I have open zoning, I could build a landfill in my front yard. Kinda scarey.)

  6. #6
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    In SC the transfer station was totally free. Those were the days! They took recycle and yard waste and washers and driers and couches and yes, I miss it!

  7. #7
    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    I have a friend who has gone off trash service for months at a time. His town had a convenient recycling center and a place to drop off yard debris. Even at that he ended up with small amounts that needed to go to landfills. For a time he was dumpster diving and I think made a few "exchanges". And another period he had permission from a neighbor to combine small amounts of trash. I have thought about it and have not come up with a way for a typical frugal lifestyle to have zero landfill waste.

  8. #8
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    Total actual garbage generated today:
    sticker from my grapefruit
    sharp (collected to drop at vet) and syringe (I have a goat on Abx for a tooth abscess)
    plastic candy wrapper
    piece of plastic tree label found in yard
    napkin and plastic cup (left at restaurant where purchased)

    dh is thinking about it.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chicken lady View Post
    Total actual garbage generated today:
    sticker from my grapefruit
    sharp (collected to drop at vet) and syringe (I have a goat on Abx for a tooth abscess)
    plastic candy wrapper
    piece of plastic tree label found in yard
    napkin and plastic cup (left at restaurant where purchased)

    dh is thinking about it.
    Way to go, I'm impressed!

  10. #10
    Moderator Float On's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chicken lady View Post

    do you eat meat or buy snacks like chips Float On? If so, what do you do with the packaging?
    Since I don't have chickens anymore when we eat meat and have leftovers that the dog can't eat like bones then I usually store it in a bag until we are ready to go to the transfer station with our garbage. That's why we go 6-8 weeks...we still generate enough trash that isn't recyclable. We can't recycle shredded paper here so anything I shred has to go to the transfer station, same with any food cardboard that has a wax lining like a cardboard milk carton. I feel guilty about taking 6 cans to the transfer station but weekly when I drive by my neighbors who put out the big trash company bin plus a couple of trashcans around the bin...every week...then I don't feel quite so guilty. I wish more people would make the effort to recycle even if they only picked one thing.
    Float On: My "Happy Place" is on my little kayak in the coves of Table Rock Lake.

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