Enviro Girl has been tracking her trash in order to get a handle on exactly what her household throws away. When confronted with the latest statistics on Americans and garbage (Americans throw away an average of 7 pounds of garbage per person every day), she wondered how her family compared to the national average. In this instance, her goal was to be below average. Continue reading
As part of Enviro Girl’s effort to get a handle on her household’s trash habits, and in effect understand how people can throw away an average of 7 pounds of garbage daily, she’s writing down all of her household garbage. This list excludes recycled or composted waste. Since yesterday at breakfast Enviro Girl’s family has thrown out Continue reading
Enviro Girl tried to weigh her kitchen garbage bag this morning, but it’s still so light that her bathroom scale will not register it. It’s lighter than a gallon of milk, which weighs about 7-8 pounds, so 2 days into her Trash Study, her household is well below the daily average of producing 7 pounds of garbage per person. To recap: In her examination of the garbage issue, Enviro Girl is tracking her household’s trash for a week, Continue reading
As part of our exploration into trash, Enviro Girl is tracking what she throws in the garbage–a bit like counting calories or writing down every expenditure. To solve the trash problem (of 7 pounds per person per day in America), you have to understand it first. Enviro Girl considers herself to be well below the norm in trash production, but she’s tracking her trash because you never know what surprises you’ll find digging in the garbage… Continue reading
Last week Enviro Girl listened to a radio program where the guest speaker addressed the topic of garbage. He cited statistics claiming Americans throw away 7 pounds of trash a day. SEVEN POUNDS! Enviro Girl did a little research on her own and discovered this, this and this. Genuinely depressing stuff when considering the money, land space, energy and other resources wasted in our disposal habits. But Americans have a cavalier attitude about throwing stuff away–how can we convince people to throw away less stuff? And how can we convince people that generating less trash takes very little effort? Continue reading
That is, the kind you leave on your curb once a week.
Gas prices go up, the cost of living rises, it seems obvious that taxes shall inevitably follow course. And local or county taxes, while the least of our “obligations,” provide most of the quality of life services we enjoy: libraries, schools, road repair, garbage pick up.
In town halls across America this year budgets will be negotiated and the cost of picking up waste and recycling will increase. Or will it? Here are a few ideas to present to your local council member or representative to keep the cost and impact of garbage pick up down:
* Pick up recycling every other week or once a month rather than weekly.
* Reduce garbage collection to every other week.
* Encourage and educate citizens to use less, reuse more and recycle more to lessen the burden on garbage trucks and landfills.
* Provide recycling incentives.
* To alleviate the wear and tear on garbage trucks that constantly break and accelerate, reduce pick up points. Have garbage picked up on only one side of a street or require that garbage is placed on every other driveway or between shared driveways. This will also save money on fuel.
* Use standard-size dumpsters on rollers to make garbage pick up automatic, faster and easier.
* Set aside a few dates a year for dumpster “overflow” pick up. This forces people to think about their garbage volume.
* Eliminate yard waste pick up — require composting grass clippings and leaves.
* Or, as a less extreme measure, only collect large branches and brush and eliminate leaf and grass collection.
Enviro-Girl loves the men who collect her garbage each week. They are troopers, working in all kinds of weather from stifling heat (she would hate to collect garbage in hot, humid weather) to blizzards. They are devoted workers who toss her garbage can into the ditch on windy days so it doesn’t blow into the road. To show her appreciation, she always puts her recycling next to her neighbors’ and her garbage can next to her neighbors’ at the end of their shared driveway. This way they only make one stop and get on their way. She has reduced her waste and recycling so there is less to pick up. Shy of baking them cookies every week, she can’t think of any other way to make their job easier.
Any suggestions, readers? How would you make garbage pick up a more efficient process? How does your municipality handle garbage and recyling?
