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Health & Fitness

Trashing the System

Solving the mystery of the empty trash bin—an eco-friendly tale.

I’ve noticed lately that we have very little household trash. This week, I peeked inside the curbside bin and was struck by a thought. Aside from our neighbors’ potential disgust of the gamy aromas wafting their way, we could miss 4 to 6 weeks of trash pickup before filling the Herbie. A feeling of total pride and mystification came over me. How is it that we have so little trash compared to those who live similar lifestyles all around us?

I knew that I had been paying attention to this issue for some time but had never bothered to (or thought to) actually track the results. I do not live anything to the extreme, so how did we get down to so little trash? It must be many small changes that added up into something substantial.

First thing in our favor is that we have a small family, just three of us. However, we used to roll a full trash container to the curb. Another many years long habit is that I make my child a trash free lunch and snack daily. This means buying in bulk, which has an immediate impact on the amount of packaging in our home. No little plastic bags or wrappers leave our home to enter the school waste flow, either.

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Like most folks these days, I always shop with a reusable bag. I took this a bit further by using washable cotton produce and grain bags, too. All plastic produce bags have been eliminated from my shopping routine. Although it took me a long time to realize how easy this is, I now bring reusable bags on all of my shopping adventures. Reusable bags are handy for so much more than grocery shopping. My bags are organized in my car inside a small, portable (rather cute) tote, ready for clothing, hardware, toys or bedding. If I forget my bag of bags (that sounds ridiculous) I simply put my items back into the cart and roll them to my car. I can bag them or box them for transport when I get home or just carry them in.  

Along with my stash of bags, I keep hot and cold reusable cups in my car, in case I find time for a cup of tea with a friend, or need the extra jolt to get me through a meeting during the day.

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I suppose that not shopping much for new things helps the most in reducing our trash.

Composting probably helps too. Keeping much of the food and green waste out of the landfills is not just good for lowering greenhouse gases; it truly makes rich, healthy soil that helps our garden produce healthier food. Because I make most of our meals from whole foods, it can be a pretty impressive amount of food scraps going into the compost bin and staying out of the trash each day.

While thinking about this thread on kitchen waste, I am reminded that we have been using cloth napkins instead of disposable. We still use paper towels but sparingly because I now tend to grab a towel or sponge as an alternative.  Our family eats home cooked meals most of the time, leaving our trash bin free from frozen or take home packaging.

To be honest, shining a light on just a few of the small and easy changes we have made in our home, our lifestyle, is illuminating. Our routines were altered so effortlessly that I hadn’t really noticed how far we had come on this journey of caring for the earth. I hope you can make some small changes that you can be proud of, too. Together we can trash the system.

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