5 kinds of trash and how I hide them
The surprising and dangerous lengths I go to in the name of eco-consciousness.
We’re about to enter a holiday weekend, which at my house means time to organize! We’re about to start a small basement remodel, requiring us to move all our accumulated junk out. I can’t wait to purge…our basement is a case study in why it’s dangerous to have a lot of storage space. Once the remodel is done we’ll have a nice spot for guests to stay, and way less space for junk to accumulate. (UPDATE: It’s done! Check out before/after photos here.)
You may have actual human plans above the ground, but if not consider joining me in doing a big household purge.
On to today’s riveting topic: trash!
Here’s what trash day looks like at my house:
We try to be eco-conscious and recycle everything we can. My husband is an elementary school teacher, and his lesson on plastic in the ocean is a sobering reminder that things we throw away….don’t really go away.
I like to make a middle-aged-lady game out of seeing how little stuff we can throw into the landfill category. Right now we use the smallest garbage bin option our city offers, and they pick it up every other week. I’m feeling pretty good about this as a family of 4.
(If you’re wondering about why we separate plastics: City recycling usually can’t take most kind of plastic, unfortunately. We used to use Ridwell for our plastic recycling — and I highly recommend them — but now a local grocery chain offers plastic recycling for free so we take our things there.)
But this brings up the obvious question — where do you put all these 5 different categories of trash while you wait to dispose of it? It’s a tough problem.
Relatedly, have you ever noticed how slick, beautifully designed kitchens you see online NEVER show where people are supposed to put their trash? 100% of people will have this need but it is just too damn ugly to show.
And with ever growing categories of waste to contend with, the challenge only grows. One must get creative.
Here’s how I solved our garbage dilemma: