Seven days of trash. Two adults. One guest, three days. Another guest, 2 days. Trash in the freezer, trash on the balcony, trash everywhere! I saved it all up for one week, and that’s what it looks like.
(First photo: how it originally "came out of the baskets". Second photo: bags combined)
So, what have I learned?
1. No more fresh produce from Costco. As much as I think that my husband & I can finish a giant bag of broccoli from Costco, we can’t. I was filled with good intentions. Broccoli is so good for you. But I threw away almost an entire bag. So sad. So embarrassing to have to admit to the globe. Same goes for the 6 pack (or 8?) of giant portobello mushroom caps.
(Photo: All organic waste for 1 week. Potential to be composted.)
2. I really, really want to start composting. I’d do it any way that was available to me, which right now are zero ways.
3. Most of my trash comes from the kitchen. Between organic waste & product packaging, mostly from food, we create the majority of the household waste.
4. Product Packaging is a big deal. This is something that Melissa in LA is dealing with, too. We buy products that come in packages. So maybe we need to put a little more pressure on the industry to do two things. 1) Create less packaging, please! 2) Use materials that are typically recyclable.
(Photo: All (most) product packaging disposed of in one week.)
5. Paper comes from every direction. And I still don’t know what to do about all of it. I have a problem. I love to read. Miami has about a gazillion free publications, some weekly, some monthly. I love to read them. I learn from them. Yes, many have websites. No, I don’t enjoy reading off of the websites. No, I don’t know what to do with them after I’ve read them. It’s like the newspaper. It’s a completely different experience reading it on paper than it is online.
6. I (we) need to learn to say, "No, Thanks". No Thanks, I don’t need a bag with that. No Thanks I don’t need a brochure, I’ll look it up online. People hand out stuff everyday that is just garbage. We look at it for a second, or only use it for a second, and then this brand new item has just become garbage.
7. I need to find some courage to challenge the authorities. Through my Recycling Chronicles I have tried to find out more about why my building doesn’t recycle. I have no fear calling the city or the county with questions. Who do I fear? The property managers for the condo. Why? I don’t know, I’ve always been a ‘fraidy cat for certain things. I rent here, so I don’t pay maintenance fees, and I don’t pay these property managers. So I feel like it gives me no right to complain. But I have to find it in myself to really get to the bottom of this, directly with the source. Additionally, I think that I really need to talk with my commissioners, to try to make recycling a bigger deal, especially in the City of Miami.
8. Buy products made from recycled materials. From what I understand, if a municipality doesn’t recycle something that is, in fact, recyclable, it is because they do not have a buyer for that particular type of waste. If we recycle, but do not buy products made from recycled materials, we are not completing the circle and we are not creating demand for wholesale/industrial buyers of the materials.
(Photo: Of all of the trash, the only potential recyclables.)
9. Think twice before tossing it out…as if the whole world would know. I really thought about my trash this week. I even salvaged some things that were about to be trashed, and found some "reuse" for them. Throwing out trash should always be a conscious action, for all of us.
(Update 4/4/06: see all WoT posts, including links to Living Green in LA’s version)
