Trash Dump Day

[Float On]

We loaded up our trash cans into the back of the truck this morning to take them to the transfer station.

Trash service where I live picks up every week and now runs around $45 a month.
About 10 years ago after having some issues with our trash service we dropped them.
We've been hauling our own trash to the transfer station about once every 6-8 weeks and it only costs about $6 a trip.

So for the last 10 years we could of spent over $5000 on trash service but instead we spent under $500. That is pretty frugal. We recycle what we can, compost what we can, nothing 'smelly' goes into our trash cans. It probably would of been a lot less money than that but that also includes studio waste glass that is pretty heavy and not recyclable in this area.

I'm pretty amazed that a lot of our neighbors pay for trash service when they only have one bag of garbage a week.

I wish I were as dedicated to finding a use for every bit of garbage like Zero Waste Home (blog and article in Sunset Magazine) but our recycling is pretty limited in this area and there seems to be more and more they won't accept.

I know we've talked trash before but what are some of your ideas on decreasing trash or decreasing the cost of throwing things away.

[Miss Cellane]

Just last week, I got a survey from the organization in town that tries to keep the whole town as green as possible. I think they've hit a plateau on getting people to compost, because the survey was about starting up a separate food waste collection weekly. Apparently the food waste will be taken somewhere and composted. There'd be a small weekly fee and you'd have to have a separate food waste container that you'd have to haul out to the curb each week. There might be an opportunity to share the bin with neighbors, to reduce the cost per household.

I'm interested to see how this develops. It's a very urban environment, with a lot of two and three family homes with small to teeny tiny yards and a high percentage of renters, which is very, very typical of the general area. One reason a lot of people (including me) don't compost is that there is no place to put a compost bin and then there's nothing to do with the compost once you have it, as landlords tend not to want to let people mess with their grounds.

Sunk into the ground at the side of the house I currently live in is an old collection bin for food waste. Up until the 1950's or so, many towns and cities in the greater Boston area had a contract with pig farmers, who would come and collect the food waste and use it to feed their pigs. I'm sure this wouldn't be allowed today, but it's interesting to see the idea come around again in a new form.

[early morning]

Float on , we do the same thing, but we don't go as often, since I also dispose of some trash at mom's. She has to pay for this huge bin thing and never has more than one small bag of trash. We compost, feed the chicken (soon to be plural again I hope!) recycle, reuse, and trash only what we have no other way to get rid of. Thankfully much of our stuff recycles - between the county I live in and the county I work in, I have very little in the way of paper/cardboard, metals, plastics, and glass that won't recycle. Auto fluids go back to the store of purchase (used oil etc). Cooking grease, bones and foods that don't compost or feed the cats are dumped in the back of the field.

[jennipurrr]

We are not big trash producers, so sometimes I wish we could do this, or go in with our single neighbor and just pay for one trash service. But, its a double edged sword here...when trash service was not lumped in with the water bill some people would not properly dispose of it, but instead dump it on roads or burn it. So, I guess its a necessary evil to prevent a few people from messing up the land for everyone :(

[bae]

Our county solid waste handling is in a death spiral.

People here re-use and recycle too much, and don't generate as much waste as they once did.

So, the use of the transfer station has been declining. Revenues have been falling. Causing a deficit.

The first response was to raise the rates. After which, use of the transfer station fell further. Causing further revenue drops. The station is now only open a few hours a week, down from 5 days a week two years ago.

The currently debated response by our County Council is to consider forced curbside delivery, and/or a parcel tax, to fund things. They even want to close down our several re-use centers, where folks now exchange items they no longer want. People are furious, as they feel they are being punished for conserving, recycling, re-using, and reducing their amount of waste.

[Mrs-M]

Hi Float On. We practice what you practice and find it makes such a huge difference when it comes to throwaway bulk and content. Aside from that I can't think of any other way or ways we approach recycling and garbage reduction in our home. Will give it some thought.....

I do want to say to you- way to go on the cost reduction! That's an enormous savings.

[Madsen]

I wish I could choose to go to the dump --- my dumb HOA requires trash service at $25/mo.

[fidgiegirl]

Makes me wonder how easy this would be for us to do. But I think since we got a lower rate on our can by calling competitors and then calling our place back and telling them, we locked in for a certain period of time.

bae, outrageous.