English | Deutsch English | Deutsch(This post is from December, there were technical difficulties in posting it, I apologize for the delay!)
I’m done! And with only 21.3 ounces of trash - although that doesn’t sound much I’ve actually accumulated a large volume of trash - see below!
The white bag in my left hand contains the trash that I generated during my first week - it weighs 14.3 oz. The brown bag in my right hand contains my trash from the second week - it weighs 7.0 oz. Even though those two bags look like they are the same size in the picture, the brown bag is significantly thinner than the white one :)
So, …
The trash collecting has slowed down in week two - I’m really starting to get the hang of what not to do ;) Here is a picture of my garbage from week 1 (it fits inside a large purse):
Because I still haven’t purchased a compost unit yet (but I do have plans to get one from The Natural Gardener here in Austin), I’ve been wondering whether it’s OK to garbage dispose some of my fruit remains. Here is what I found out:
It is always better to compost than it is to use a garbage disposal. Got it. But which is better — using a garbage disposal that grinds the food and deposits it in …
Wow are weekends tough! Lots of trash.
The highlight of the weekend was showing up to our company party with my bag of trashed neatly tucked inside my oversized black purse! Without realizing it until too late, I accidentally let the waiter take a glass bottle away (which I would have recycled) as well as two small disposable plastic cups (not recyclable because the top is larger than the bottom - such a weird rule). I’ll add 4 ounces to my total garbage weight at the end of the week for the cups.
Also, I took the bag of trash on a 4-mile hike… luckily there are no bears in the Austin area, otherwise they might have picked up …
Yesterday went really well - almost no trash at all! Cereal for breakfast; plated meals for lunch and dinner; no paper or plastic cups and no plastic utensils! I recycled some trash from day 1 and am working on getting a contained compost unit :)
I interviewed a candidate for a co-op position yesterday, and I got really flustered explaining why I had a plastic grocery bag of trash attached to my hip! Luckily, it was a college student I was interviewing, and they are used to having trash around, I would think (just kidding!) :)
Today, things were not so easy - the banana peel is starting to stink! I didn’t get time to …
After another fun trip around the world, the trash torch has returned to the frog austin studio - to me, Cheryl Sedota, a technical architect at frog. I am so excited to be a trash talker, mainly because i want to become more conscious of how much trash I generate and more knowledgeable about minimizing trash. In order to accomplish both of those goals, for the first week I will not modify my trash generation at all, and during the second week we’ll see how much better I can do. So far, I am pacing myself, only reading a few other trash talk blog entries per day so that I can take it all in, so sorry …
Manufacturers, Municipalities & Consumers (MMC)
I’ve been carrying my trash around for two weeks. And the fact that I only have a small bag of stuff destined for the landfill really goes to show what a good recycling and composting program can do. Here are my biggest insight from this process:
Manufacturers need to push even harder to make sure that their all or at least most of their packaging is either recyclable or compostable. If that were the case, I’d have almost nothing to throw in the landfill.
Municipalities need to develop extensive recycling and composting programs. I’m not sure if the city of San Francisco runs its recycling and composting operations at a loss, but other cities …
This past Wednesday, November 7, there was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about how too much junk ends up in the San Francisco compost stream (see article). The article explained that at one point a bicycle was found with the green waste at Jepson Prairie Organics where San Francisco’s compost collection goes (Jepson Prairie Organics is located in Vacaville, CA). While I find that incredible, I’m not completely surprised. As the self proclaimed “Captain Compost” of the frog design San Francisco studio, I occasionaly find some weird stuff in the green bin. For example, one time I spotted a plastic bag in the compost bin. I thought, “Who would put plastic in …
Evan Cordes has brought to my attention that Tom’s of Maine will take back the aluminum toothpaste tubes if your city will not recycle them (see comments below). I don’t think that San Francisco will accept them; so, I guess I’m going to collect a bunch of them over the next few months and send them back to Maine!
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Tom’s of Maine is a favorite brand amongst environmental do-gooders (like myself). You get the sense that everything they make is a lot more natural than all the products made by Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson.
However, I don’t think there’s much I can do with an empty tube of Tom’s of Maine toothpaste. Natural or not, …
I have to admit. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if something is plastic or compostable material. I was in Trader Joe’s last night looking for a few things. Normally I don’t like going there because they wrap all their vegetables with some sort of material. Plus, you can’t buy vegetables individually; you have to buy them in fixed quantities. However, they’re one of the only vendors in San Francisco that sell Spanish olive oil; so, I have to go there occasionally. (Spanish olive oil is SOOOO good!)
Anyway, we needed some tomatoes and I looked with dread at the container for the tomatoes. Is it recyclable??? I sure hope so! I flipped …
Last night I went out to a club called Mighty in San Francisco (http://www.mighty119.com/). And as I looked on while my friend ordered some shots of tequila, I was disappointed to see that the bartender was pouring the tequila in some little plastic cups, as opposed to the customary shot glasses. Sigh, I thought to myself. Another thing for the trash bag.
But as I was finishing up my shot, I noticed the familiar recycling image on the bottom of my glass. Could it be? Could I save myself from more junk in my bag? YES! Indeed! #6 plastic. Excellent. I don’t think that recycling a plastic “shot glass” is better …
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