I have this thing against waste. Not the body kind, in rooms where it belongs; but litter, recyclables in trash cans, compostable material in the trash can or recycle bin, extra shipping materials, non-biodegradable or recyclable packaging. These things just...bug me.
According to the EPA:
In 2010, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled and composted over 85 million tons of this material, equivalent to a 34.1 percent recycling rate (see Figure 1 and Figure 2). On average, we recycled and composted 1.51 pounds out of our individual waste generation of 4.43 pounds per person per day.
This is a great report and you should defiantly read it. Basically the sorting of our trash can be better. Our municipal trash guys are doing a great job of re-sorting and reducing the amount of junk going into the landfills even after we close the lid and think we've done a great job!
It seems like in a, hopefully, evolved society like ours we should be able to reduce our impact on the globe as much as possible. That's why I happily work in a company that is carbon neutral, and has a drive and commitment to be, and stay green. Now I realize that I sound about as crazy as those people who prepare for the end of the world, but honestly I just like to do my part to keep my trash out of landfills. So I donate old clothes, recycle cans, bottles, plastic and paper...oh and I have a worm bucket.
Yep, I said a worm bucket. It's where all the food waste goes that isn't protein based. Onion skins, tomato ends, green onion tops, asparagus bottoms, old broccoli, veg that doesn't get eaten in time, banana peels, lemon rind, coffee grounds, tea bags...I have very spoiled worms. Good thing is, I get presents from the bucket. Today I went to feed the worms and found that some garlic had sprouted! Now I will have delicious home grown garlic courtesy of the worms. One less thing on my shopping list, and one more way I'm keeping my junk out of other people's way!
...Nature Girl
I love it! One of these days we really have to get together so you can teach me the ways of composting...worm-free ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm not perfect at it yet, the worm-free kind, but I want to build a dry composter soon :)
Delete