One of my 2018 goals has been to reduce the amount of trash I produce. Why? I was putting out a lot of trash weekly. Plus, my neighbors are also putting out a ton of trash. Where does it go? Landfills. In my state, they are the highest points of elevation. Mountains of trash. The trash equation needed to change, starting with me and my house. Therefore, reducing the trash I send to the curb has been the focus.
I am happy to announce I have reduced the trash I send out to the curb by 50%.
I’m not done, but I have created a significant reduction. How did I do it? First of all, I focused on what was going into the trash versus the recycling bin or my compost pile. It forced me to recognize I was dramatically under using my compost pile. Also, although I was recycling, I had plenty of opportunity to do it better. Bottom line, I was not doing enough to reduce amounts going to the landfills.
As I was throwing stuff away, I began asking myself, “Why can’t this go in the compost or recycling instead?” I really focused on streaming things going out of the house into one of three categories: Compost, recycling and trash, in that order. I get as much as I can into composting. If it doesn’t fit there, my hope is to recycle it. The last recourse is trash. The strategy is to upstream everything, or better yet, not bring it into the house in the first place.
Putting Strategy into Action
How do you get started? Begin by looking at your trash. It sounds gross, but it really isn’t. You cannot change your habits without recognizing the behavior and calling it out. Once you recognize and evaluate what you put in the trash, you can get intentional about getting it out of the trash and moving it further upstream. Here are three things that I was consistently recognized as I was throwing stuff away:
- More should be going into my compost pile
- My recycling stream was messy and underutilized
- Trash was full of items that could have been left at the store
More Compost Please
If you want to reduce waste, you need to start a backyard compost pile. It’s easy and I have an article on Backyard Composting already on my site. 
Do some research and get one started. When you do, you will be able to repurpose a majority of your food scraps, yard waste and much, much more. I have even found you can compost a lot of paper waste, like tissue, toilet paper rolls, paper towels, regular paper, some junk mail, newspaper, etc. You cannot compost coated paper that comes in flyers, coupons and the like. All of this composting will reduce your trash by at least 25%.
Have a Clean Recycling Stream
Contaminants in your recycling stream could cause everything to go the landfill. Here are three easy tips to cleaning up your stream:
- Plastic bags cause problems with sorting and streaming the items into the correct categories. Hard plastics are good. Plastic bags are bad.
- Take all plastic bags to your local store and drop them off for recycling. In addition to checkout aisle bags, single stream recycling in the store supports produce bags, bread bags, paper towel packaging, cereal box liners and the like.
- Paper/Cardboard with glossy finish or food stains is not recyclable. Food in plastics is just melted down. Paper, however, is made into a slurry. Oils and food ruin the slurry and prevent the recycle.
Reduce the Trash Brought Home from the Store
Once you start really looking at what you throw away, you will recognize opportunities while you are acquiring goods. There are two main ways to change you purchasing behaviors: 1) obtain the product with little to no packaging, or 2) obtain product in recyclable or compostable packaging. Here are 4 suggestions to reducing trash as you acquire goods:
- Bring your own reusable bags. They will likely hold more, be sturdier and you could even have insulation to keep items at temperature.
- Buy in bulk. Again, you could use your own containers. Even if you use the store’s bags, this is less packaging and may be dropped off for recycling with other lightweight plastic materials.
- Buy whole foods. Besides your health, here is another reason to switch from processed foods to fresh foods. The planet will thank you.
- Second-hand purchases. I bought all of my soap making utensils at the local St. Vincent de Paul store. I saved a ton of money, avoided packaging and I had fun shopping around. You don’t have to be Macklemore or Ryan Lewis to go to a thrift store.
Summary
My main point is this: Look at your trash. Every week, if possible. To reduce your waste, you need to continuously measure and review what you are sending to the curb. Once you start looking at what you are throwing out, you will recognize opportunities to compost biodegradable trash, clean up and get more into the recycling stream and alter your purchasing behavior into a more stewardly fashion. You have the power to become a trash fighting superhero. Join me!
