Trashing The Planet (or at least one little corner of it)

[2LaneCruzer]

There is something called the "Zero Waste Movement", whereby the aim is to get to the point where everything is usable or recyclable.

What is the Zero-Waste Movement? - Planet Aid, Inc.


Living on a acreage, we have been composting almost everything from the kitchen, and yard waste for a long time. We also have a city recycling service, so the recycling plus the composting, we have very, very little garbage. It would probably take 3 or 4 months for us to fill a 55 gallon garbage container. What paper we don't burn in the fireplace gets recycled, as does cans, metal and plastic. We do throw out some kitchen and bathroom waste, and if need be, could probably compost most of that...but there are some things I don't compost because of the smell and the varmints.

 

[CobyRupert]

Thank the government for learning the easiest way to take the last few shekels from the poor.

Yes, but if I could only convince these “mathematically challenged” losers to throw their $20’s out their window BEFORE they convert them into a worthless scratched off ticket.

There is something called the "Zero Waste Movement", whereby the aim is to get to the point where everything is usable or recyclable.

Yes, our county started, then privatized, recycling centers throughout the county. For every couple bags of “unrecyclables” garbage, I recycle a pickup load of newspapers, cardboard, boxboard, plastic containers, glass, cans, etc... The garbage gets burnt in an industrial burn plant that converts it to electricity. The recyclables gets sold. (Though Trump’s trade war has yanked the carpet out of the plastic market)

Most of my compost gets converted into fresh eggs. Last summer I converted all the compost from my buddy’s seafood restaurant into about a 160 pounds of pork and bacon that’s in our freezers. Yum, nothing like sea raised pork! Very rare.

 

[Jstpssng]

There is something called the "Zero Waste Movement", whereby the aim is to get to the point where everything is usable or recyclable.

What is the Zero-Waste Movement? - Planet Aid, Inc.


Living on a acreage, we have been composting almost everything from the kitchen, and yard waste for a long time. We also have a city recycling service, so the recycling plus the composting, we have very, very little garbage. It would probably take 3 or 4 months for us to fill a 55 gallon garbage container. What paper we don't burn in the fireplace gets recycled, as does cans, metal and plastic. We do throw out some kitchen and bathroom waste, and if need be, could probably compost most of that...but there are some things I don't compost because of the smell and the varmints.

I was rather surprised to hear on a local radio station's trivia contest that apparently this nation spends nearly as much on paper towels as every other nation combined. Where would we be without Nancy Walker and the "Quicker Picker Upper?

RE: lottery tickets; years ago I walked into a convenience store and nearly got knocked over by a very POed woman. The clerk explained that she had bought two lottery tickets at her last stop; one was a loser, the other was a $50 winner. In her excitement she threw the wrong ticket out the window while going down the highway and was rather unhappy when trying to cash it in. Apparently he made the comment; you're stupid twice. The second time for keeping the wrong ticket; but mostly for littering in the first place!

 

[fishheadbob]

Most of my compost gets converted into fresh eggs. Last summer I converted all the compost from my buddy痴 seafood restaurant into about a 160 pounds of pork and bacon that痴 in our freezers. Yum, nothing like sea raised pork! Very rare.

Makes me laugh. I used to feed our pigs "bakery salvage" which usually was bread beyond the selling point. One day I took "cake" when there was no bread, finding out later that "Cake " meant 300 or 400 pounds of Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies, all individually wrapped. What a mess. Marie Antoinette had something to say about that.....

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Makes me laugh. I used to feed our pigs "bakery salvage" which usually was bread beyond the selling point. One day I took "cake" when there was no bread, finding out later that "Cake " meant 300 or 400 pounds of Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies, all individually wrapped. What a mess. Marie Antoinette had something to say about that.....

Ok, sorry, but that's just hilarious.

*Me picturing you unwrapping 300 pounds of twinkies...

Lol.

 

[Beltzington]

Packaging is crazy. Something like an ink pen wrapped, cardboard backing, then blister packed, at checkout put in a bag with a foot long receipt. The throw away junk bigger than item!

Whoever invented the blister pack should be required to open 100 per year as penance. Clams are easier to shuck, some 6,000 people every year visit the E.R from injuries suffered tying to open a blister pack.

 

[goeduck]

Last summer I converted all the compost from my buddy痴 seafood restaurant into about a 160 pounds of pork and bacon that痴 in our freezers. Yum, nothing like sea raised pork! Very rare.

Sounds fishy

 

[Jstpssng]

Makes me laugh. I used to feed our pigs "bakery salvage" which usually was bread beyond the selling point. One day I took "cake" when there was no bread, finding out later that "Cake " meant 300 or 400 pounds of Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies, all individually wrapped. What a mess. Marie Antoinette had something to say about that.....

I know bear hunters who buy that stuff by the 55 gallon drum for bear bait.

 

[Oaktree]

Living on a acreage, we have been composting almost everything from the kitchen, and yard waste for a long time. We also have a city recycling service, so the recycling plus the composting, we have very, very little garbage. It would probably take 3 or 4 months for us to fill a 55 gallon garbage container. What paper we don't burn in the fireplace gets recycled, as does cans, metal and plastic. We do throw out some kitchen and bathroom waste, and if need be, could probably compost most of that...but there are some things I don't compost because of the smell and the varmints.

We do the same. We maybe fill a wastebasket-size trash bag once a month, that's it.
Unfortunately, most people are too lazy to take the 5 (if that) minutes a day to sort and recycle. "Too busy". Yeah right, too busy sending pointless text messages on their cellphones most likely. I get that it's more difficult for city dwellers or even suburbanites but there's still a lot anyone can do to cut back on waste.

Whoever invented the blister pack should be required to open 100 per year as penance. Clams are easier to shuck, some 6,000 people every year visit the E.R from injuries suffered tying to open a blister pack.

Ain't that the truth! Packaging so strong you need a chain saw to open it, only to break the contents getting them out of the package. :confused3:

 

[2LaneCruzer]

We do the same. We maybe fill a wastebasket-size trash bag once a month, that's it.
Unfortunately, most people are too lazy to take the 5 (if that) minutes a day to sort and recycle. "Too busy". Yeah right, too busy sending pointless text messages on their cellphones most likely. I get that it's more difficult for city dwellers or even suburbanites but there's still a lot anyone can do to cut back on waste.



Ain't that the truth! Packaging so strong you need a chain saw to open it, only to break the contents getting them out of the package. :confused3:

It's a conspiracy against Senior citizens, I'll tell you! I can't even get the safety seal out of a bottle of aspirins or a container of coffee without a knife and/or a pair of pliers. Takes a pair of kitchen shears to open a package of crackers, and a pair of channel locks to open a bottle of salad dressing.

I worked in a grocery store back in the 50's and 60's, and I was always finding empty packages that once contained such things as make up; candy wrappers and empty bottles of "green lizard", otherwise known as after shave. Not so easy to open such things any more; although I went to Walmart to pick up some printer ink, and there was only one package of the kind I wanted on the shelf. I picked it up, and it had been opened, the inner package had been opened also, and the new cartridge removed and replaced with an empty....$28.00...but being one of the necessities of life, I can see why they were forced to steal it.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^
My brother went into WalMart to try on a pair of boots; opened the box and found a pair of dirty old sneakers inside. I once bought a set of TV "rabbit ears", got home and found that it apparently had been purchased before and returned; the antennae was broken and put back together with scotch tape. Upon returning it I had to argue with them that I wasn't the one who broke it.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Crickenberger
He discovered years ago the perceived value of an item is proportional to the difficulty in opening it.
So when my wife is opening a package using scissors, pliers, wire cutters and a hammer she says "definitely a 10 on the Crickenberger scale.

 

[JamesHW]

My moment on packaging came when I purchased an expensive Master padlock and discovered it took longer to get it out of the packaging than to pick the lock...

 

[Guidshir]

When my wife and I were looking for land to buy we did walk away from a few because of the junk accumulated. It's bad to have an immediate neighbor who trashes because it migrates to the clean neighbor. The land we eventually bought had about 1 pickup load of junk on it, which is great. I do some cleanup, but don't have to spend years on it. The biggest task will be the old barbed wire.

 

[ultrarunner]

It's a conspiracy against Senior citizens, I'll tell you! I can't even get the safety seal out of a bottle of aspirins or a container of coffee without a knife and/or a pair of pliers. Takes a pair of kitchen shears to open a package of crackers, and a pair of channel locks to open a bottle of salad dressing.

I worked in a grocery store back in the 50's and 60's, and I was always finding empty packages that once contained such things as make up; candy wrappers and empty bottles of "green lizard", otherwise known as after shave. Not so easy to open such things any more; although I went to Walmart to pick up some printer ink, and there was only one package of the kind I wanted on the shelf. I picked it up, and it had been opened, the inner package had been opened also, and the new cartridge removed and replaced with an empty....$28.00...but being one of the necessities of life, I can see why they were forced to steal it.

It is a real problem for a lot of seniors I know... these are the ones that would never let a gum wrapper hit the ground but are confounded by sorting requirements

You know... some plastic is recyclable and others not... some green waste cant go in the green waste like palm fronds because it clogs the shredders, pizza box green waste, newspaper recycle, glossy magazines trash... unpainted wood is green waste... painted or treated garbage... cooking grease green waste but only in cardboard/paper container... and so it goes.

To make matters worse if the recycle trucks are full... it all goes to trash anyway.

 

[ultrarunner]

Don't overlook midnight dumping which is on the increase due to high legal disposal fees...

Right now I'm looking at some semi tires someone dump on Mom's property and rolled them down the ravine to the creek... lots of poison oak down there.

It bothers her a lot knowing the 3 tires are down there but I am not going to get poison oak winching them out...

 

[4570Man]

What do you all do with used fence wire? Locally the “free” dump won’t take it, the paid dump won’t take it and the scrap yard won’t take it.

 

[ultrarunner]

I would think it would be regular trash as long as it fits in the trash tote and is not overweight... sure, it may take months of handling to get rid of.

I order the dumpsters and oversee disposal for the Hospital... much of the job is ensuring items are properly sorted and disposed of... with sorting being on going...

One of my elderly neighbors received a large screen TV from her kids... for weeks she tried to get rid of the packing... Waste Management said it had to be sorted and completely within the can for it to be taken...

Driving by I did not realize it was the same stuff week after week... saw her with a Kitchen Knife trying to cut it up with her arthritic hands and stopped and said I will take care of it for you... you would have thought I had just offered to pay a month utilities or something...

It was no big deal for me... as the charge for the Hospital is per dumpster... full or empty it is the same.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Crickenberger
He discovered years ago the perceived value of an item is proportional to the difficulty in opening it.
So when my wife is opening a package using scissors, pliers, wire cutters and a hammer she says "definitely a 10 on the Crickenberger scale.

:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Yes, but if I could only convince these �athematically challenged losers to throw their $20痴 out their window BEFORE they convert them into a worthless scratched off ticket.



Yes, our county started, then privatized, recycling centers throughout the county. For every couple bags of ç*¥nrecyclables garbage, I recycle a pickup load of newspapers, cardboard, boxboard, plastic containers, glass, cans, etc... The garbage gets burnt in an industrial burn plant that converts it to electricity. The recyclables gets sold. (Though Trumpç—´ trade war has yanked the carpet out of the plastic market)

Most of my compost gets converted into fresh eggs. Last summer I converted all the compost from my buddyç—´ seafood restaurant into about a 160 pounds of pork and bacon thatç—´ in our freezers. Yum, nothing like sea raised pork! Very rare.

Neat. I used to pasture hogs and finish them on junk milk, apples and garden overproduction. The flavor of the pork was divine!