GARBAGE, What are you doing about it?

#1

Technology changes constantly and we have become a throw away society, do we have choices?
We all probably received a present that created more garbage for the landfills either by wrapping paper or replacing old technology with new.

What is your city doing about it?
What are you doing about it?

Where I live we have created a program over the past several years that finally will see some results for future generations
We have three separate bins,
Landfill trash
composting bins
recycling bins

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Every home in my city is required by law to have all three and let me tell you some people were not too happy about it.

They are not pretty to look at but I am on board with this.

The compost bin which has food scraps, pet waste, meat, bones. will be made into fertilizer that will be sold in stores and
Recycling which has anything like paper,cardboard, glass. cans, foil. is picked up every week.

The bin that goes to the landfill with stuff that won’t decompose like styrofoam and anything that does not go in the other two bins gets collected every two weeks.

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electronics and hazerdous waste can be dropped for free at collector stations

Milk jugs, beverage cans, bottles, plastics all have an upfront surcharge which encourages you to bring them back for your deposit and has been the case for over 40 years.

I was shocked last year when we were camping in Idaho and they took our plastics from the recycling can and through them in the garbage and said they only recycle the cans.

Hopefully going forward more cities/counties will take some type of similar initiatives to clean up for further generations.

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#2

Where I live we don’t have trash puck up. But rather you bring your trash to the transfer station. There you have trash compactor and a cardboard /plastic /metal bin. We also have an electronic section as well as bulk disposal. So our town is very keen on being green and helping the environment out. When it snows they don’t salt but use sand as well as some sort of environmental gel when it’s all ice as it literally melts it and stops it from refreazing

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#3

Could be this stuff . We started using it this year

#4

That’s interesting, but I don’t think that’s it because the stuff they use is a gel substance

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#5

Live in California, its 3 different bins, organic (green, food, garden, food soiled cardboard), recycling (blue) and then everything else (black). We pay for garbage and the bill is linear on your black bin size so you get the smallest you can handle.

Local stores prefer paper bags you can thus can go in green bin, and plant based drink containers, so a lot can be used for compost to grow more plants.

The biggest problem is people who just don’t care and throw everything in the regular trash rather than pause and think and put in different bins. I keep 3 bins in the kitchen which when filled get chucked into the 3 bins outside.

Kids are the worse. Tiny brains filled with music.

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#6

priceless

same here

This is the toughest one. people are given a choice here but rarely choose paper for the groceries. The stores don’t help much as the paper is not the default. (prob costs them more)

#7

I live in California too and we have those 3 bins too. I often scold my hubby for not putting things in the right bin. I try to do my part. Especially after watching an episode of UnderCover Boss where they were sorting out trash at the Recycle place. It was an eye opener to see how so many people just don’t care what happens to our landfills.

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#8

In the Wales, local governments (Councils) have recycling targets and we have all been given bins or bags to desperate our waste.

We were also given smaller landfill wheelie bins and it’s not allowed to be over flowing. If your bin lid is open at all, they won’t empty it.

Plastics and Cans
Cardboard
Paper
Food waste

Recycling gets collected every week and landfill waste every fortnight. We’ve been doing this for about 3 or 4 years now.

I still have to go behind everyone in my house though and check the bins haha

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#9

I live out in the country. We don’t have anything even though the county offers free drop for recycling for every large town in the county. We pay $60 for 3 months for a weekly trash pick up (up to 160lbs or 8 bags). I reuse glass and certain high quality plastic jugs and the rest I take to transfer center in a neighboring county that doesn’t charge for recycling materials and doesn’t check residency.

Tree branches get cut down into firewood for the fire pits and the rest cut up and thrown on a burn pile (bonfire). Plant based food and garden waste gets thrown into compost piles and the livestock manures go in there as well.

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#10

that is a great idea for larger tree branches, great idea for Christmas trees is to use as mulch around the city as it is difficult to burn them safely due to more pine needles than wood.

#11

It is. Our county dump partners with a local company that takes tree and organic matter and turns into compost, high quality soil blends, top soils, and mulches. But the free pick up is for city residents and they get a discount when purchasing the completed products. Those out in the county pay top dollar and can’t recycle their organic matter with paying the dump fee per pound.

#12

Burn it :smiling_imp::smiling_imp::smiling_imp:muahahaha
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#13

I like the bin size by price model so bigger families can buy bigger landfill.

One other difference, which is a little icky, is if you hand cans or bottles in you get 5c small 10c large, so some people supplement income by going through your recycling bin at night before collection and remove then claim.

#14

Chemists I’m sure can make lot more useful things here. Fuel. Bricks, etc.

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#15

My city recycles as well.

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