I was woefully neglectful with my One Can a Month Challenge, mostly because I didn’t know how to make our trash interesting. Will that stop me today? Heck no.
A quick refresher: since our trash is picked up weekly, we were aiming for a quarter can a week.
The first week, we came in at a little less than half a can. This was due mostly to the tree that sprouted in my foyer.
The second week, a quarter can. I recall no details beyond that.
The third week, none of our indoor cans were full, so we didn’t put out any trash! This was exciting, on the one hand, because we were back on track for the challenge, but a bummer on the other hand, because we paid almost $8 just for the trash guy to back into our driveway and then leave again.
The fourth week, we had that trash from the week before ( why this did not occur to me, the fact that this trash would figure into the fourth week’s count, I do not know) plus a fair amount of spoilage from the power outtage. (Oddly enough, the dairy all seemed fine, but the bacon made me violently ill, and we took no chances with the potato salad.) The trash can smelled awful in the summer heat and I did not envy the trash man.
All told, we put out about a can and a third. Not terrible, I guess. A LOT of that was melon rinds, and non-recyclable plastic containers I bought pre-challenge.
I am now a lot more careful about checking the packaging before I buy, and I am thinking in earnest that a compost pile is definitely the way to go.
I am SO ENVIOUS of those in Southern Delaware who have pay-as-you-go programs of $1 a bag (which you drop off yourself). This would save us a bundle. In fact, I could probably drive my own trash to Southern Delaware, over an hour away, and still save on our trash bill! (Don’t worry, I won’t.)
We pay $100 every three months to have someone empty our trash can, which, clearly, is never more than half full. It’s a waste of our money and the trash company’s time and fuel.
Because we live at a potentially dangerous point on a rural road (absolutely zero visibility for a trash truck backing up) the company sends out a guy in a pick-up truck to collect our trash. Ridiculous! Hopefully they will take all this into account when I attempt to have them come out only twice a month.
So, I’m all done trash talking for now.
Those of you who also took on this challenge- How did you do?
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