Trash Talking

The average American throws away 4.5 lbs. of trash every day.

According to the EPA, "garbage" or "trash" consists of "everyday items such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspapers, appliances, paint, and batteries."

I, for one, never throw clothes or shoes into the garbage. Instead, items I no longer wear/want sit in trash bags in the garage waiting to be taken to the Goodwill. The bags typically sit in "charity purgatory" for an average of 4-6 months before Marc finally gets fed up with them taking up gear space and he schleps it to ARC.

Back to the 4.5 lbs. of trash ... that's a lotta crap! We recycle a TON with bins of low-grade paperboard, magazines and co-mingleables overflowing in our garage, so I'm pretty sure the Angelo daily load is slightly less. Yet, I feel we can be doing more! The worst part of the average 4.5 lbs. is the "food scrap" inclusion. This organic matter should be returned to the earth to naturally biodegrade and enhance the soil. Instead its preserved in plastic to be fossilized with the rest of our trash in the landfill.

I'm talking composting here people!

I know the vast majority of our trash is food waste and I'm willing to bet that if we were to incorporate a composter into our recycling routine, we would put out only 2 bags of trash a month (compared to the one or two bags per week we current dump).

Composting doesn't mean smelly heaps that attract critters and require a bunch of hands-on maintenance. New composting bins are fully enclosed and come in a variety of sizes to suit your level of compost needs.

Not an avid gardener? It doesn't really matter - you can spread compost in flower beds, use it for potted plants or sell it to your green thumb neighbors! The point is, we're keeping good organic materials out of the landfill!

I've had my eye on the EcoTumbler for over a year now ... I think the time has come!