When I was growing up, my family had a very complicated system for waste disposal. We separated into at least a dozen different categories.
- Organic waste like banana peels and egg shells went into the bucket beside the kitchen sink, ultimately destined for the compost pile at the far end of the garden (a very long trek when we had deep snow).
- Meat bones went into the in-ground garbage can just outside the back door. Raccoons quickly made off with them so we never had to worry about formal garbage collection. I still remember the clang of the heavy lid of the garbage can in the middle of the night.
- Separate boxes under the kitchen sink collected recycling: rinsed plastic bottles, clear glass, green glass, brown glass, tin cans (lids off, cans squished flat with our feet), and aluminum soda cans (which I believe my parents now collect for 5 cent return).
- Plastic bags, including bread bags, went into a rack on the cupboard door below the sink to be reused.
- Paper went into a box by my mom's desk to be recycled. We also saved some newspapers in a bin by the fireplace for fires and other projects, and Mom was very good at reusing scrap paper for miscellaneous notes.
- Odds and ends went into a bin by the refrigerator or waste baskets throughout the house. We collected all of this trash in giant bags and store them in the barn until the next trip to the dump. No curbside pickup for us.
When I grew up, I rebelled by throwing all of my trash into the same bag and letting the city collect it. So easy! Bit by bit I've grown up and reconnected with at least some of the good lessons my parents taught me. Not quite there with the composting, though.
4 comments:
In Maine we use Zero-Sort Recycling, where all types of recyclables (paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, tin cans, glass bottles) are all placed in recycle tubs and mechanically sorted at the collection company's facilities. Garbage is collected by a second collection truck. Deposit cans and bottles are returned to the supermarket collection center.
In Florida we accumulate cans, plastic and glass in a clear plastic bag. There are no deposits on cans and bottles in Florida. Newspapers in another clear plastic bag. Paper and cardboard and small boxes in a third clear plastic bag. The clear plastic bags designate the contents as recyclables. They and all corrugated cartons, flattened, are collected by one truck. Garbage, in a white plastic bag, is collected by a second truck.
Well, Margy, there are only two boxes under the sink now, one for soda cans, the other for glass, plastic, and cans (which we don't have to squish any more). But now we flatten all boxes, cereal, etc., and put them in the paper recycling box. I'm sure we recycle at least 70% of our trash!
Love,
Mom
OMGoodness, I love your hippyish parents! I would try and do more recycling if the city cooperated more.
What a great way to grow up. Your parents sound like they knew the value of the earth and of hard work.
I wish I were better at trashing appropriately. I obviously don't wish it enough to change it yet, but maybe someday.
Thank you for setting an example.
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