Trashing more than I thought

So, I did a trash experiment where I monitored the amount of trash I threw away for four days. According to the EPA, the average American throws away more than 4 lbs of waste per day. I was trying to see if I could only generate 1 lbs for all four days. I didn't do it. I know! I had about 5 lbs of trash. To console myself, I am reminded that this is still below average (yay). But, I would like to improve.

Most of the trash was food waste, most of which went bad before I ate it. So, I think the first step to reducing my waste is to monitor what I have in the fridge better, and don't buy too much. Also, it is good to not forget to put things back in the fridge - I'm scatterbrained.

The next step would be to compost. I am reluctant to start. Composting sounds complicated in an intimidating way, and I really don't want smelly odors or bugs around. I think I would be able to compromise by bringing my food waste to a facility. I looked on www.earth911.com to see if there was one in my area, and I'm in luck. After Thanksgiving, I'm going to call them to make sure I can really bring my food waste there (it still seems unbelievable that they will compost other people's stuff), and I will try it out. We'll see...

Horrible trash-generating months

The past couple months, I have been crazy busy. So, I relaxed a lot of my eco-friendly initiatives and methods. I have been using the dryer all the time, eating out with lots of styrofom containers, have been leaving my reusable bags at home, and have been running the dishwasher when it is not completely full. Yay for waste....

The end of this craziness is in sight, and I want to re-dedicate myself to decreasing waste and energy use. I am going to try really hard to use my reusable bags (both shopping and produce bags), try buying more from the bulk section, make my own food, and dry cloths on the rack whenever possible. Hopefully, I can bring my trash-making down to a respectable level. My goal is to make a 3 gallon bag of trash per week. It shouldn't be that hard, but I have some bad habits.

According to the EPA, "MSW generation in 2007 was 4.62 pounds per person per day. The recycling rate in 2007 was 1.54 pounds per person per day." Do I generate 4.62 lbs of waste per day? I hope not, but I've never weighed it... Between now and Tuesday, I'm going to keep track of my waste and weigh it at the end. That will be four days worth of trash, so let's say I can only generate 4 x 4.62 lbs of trash (18.48 lbs) to make average. I want to be below average, so let's make the goal of only being able to make 1 lb of trash over 4 days. I'm not sure if I can make this. I have no concept of what a pound of trash looks like. I'll let you know if I make it and what I learn. This shouldn't be too hard, right? There are people out there who generate *no* trash like Bea from Zero Waste Home and Colin Beavan from No Impact Man. I have a feeling I need to make some major habit changes.

Success!

I have tried the new low-flow showerhead for a couple weeks now, and I have to say I am very pleased with it. The water pressure is pretty good, and I don't feel like I am waiting for water to rinse me off. I am, however, disappointed with the "pause" setting on the showerhead. The pause setting was intended to make it easy for me to take military style showers where i turn the water off while lathering up. The knob used to turn it to "pause" was stiff, and the showerhead usuall fell out of the holder when I tried to turn it. This was a big pain in and of itself. Also, the "pause" setting did not actually turn the water flow off. Rather, it decreased the flow to a drip. I guess that saves more water than not decreasing the flow at all, but I thought it was lame.

Overall, I was happy with the showerhead. I am just giving up on using the "pause" feature. It is not worth it for the showerhead to fall down when I use the feature.

Low Flow Showers

One of my guilty pleasures ecologically is having a standard shower head. No, it is not low-flow, and no, I do not turn it off while lathering up. I have it running for a full 15 minutes.

I was in Home Depot today for a light bulb errand when I came across the fancy low-flow shower head that has five massage modes and can "pause", or turn off, while you lather up. It said it can do all this while using 1.5 gallons per minute and maintaining excellent water pressure. I haven't taken it out of the box yet. I will let you know how it turns out. I'm hoping this low-flow shower head converts me to greener ways. I'm holding onto my original shower head until proven differently....

Less Dryer, More Drying Rack

I decided after watching a YouTube video from CommunityChannel that if she is randomly commenting about how dryers are energy hogs, that maybe I should look into using a drying rack... I already owned the rack, but had been using it for any items that needed to be dried flat. So, there was no added cost or consumerism. And so, I began drying my clothes this way.

Drying rack limitations I noticed: 1) I only have room for drying one load of laundry at a time, and 2) towels don't dry very well - they start to get moldy smelling before finally drying the next day (I'm sticking with using the dryer for these). That being said, I saved $10 / month by just using a rack. I was so excited because this is about 15-20% of my energy bill.

Highly recommended. What have your experiences been??

One Dollar, One Tree - Save the Atlantic Forest!

The Nature Conservancy is now trying to plant a billion trees in the Atlantic Forest rainforest. It is just a dollar a tree. Please donate, slow global warming, and help save our planet!