Trash Confession

One of my goals for 2013 was to get our trash situation under control. We used to be sort of earth-friendly when it came to trash, but I noticed over the last few years that we were buying a lot more packaged foods, and hauling a ton of stuff out to the curb every week. It was really pure laziness. I'm posting it here to keep myself accountable.

So far, I did a couple of things....

1. I bought tiny garbage cans for the bathroom and kitchen. This keeps me from throwing any old thing into the bag. Also, I have to take it out to the can out back more often so it's less stinky in general.
2. I set up lots of cans for recycling so that I have plenty of room to throw the junk mail, paperboard, plastic containers, all the stuff our city hauls away in the single-stream recycling program.
3. I bought a big container for food scraps. I also learned that I can add newspaper to my compost pile to help it break down (thanks, Megan!).
4. I found a big basket to keep rags handy and hid the paper towels.
5. Located my water bottle and pack it in my purse. I've been on the go all summer, working at places without air conditioning and I often found myself buying bottled water.

Already those few little steps seemed to get us back on track. These are the next steps I want to take.

1. Get those cloth diapers and wipes out again (especially since we have in-home care for Marko, there's really no need for disposables).
2. Take jars to the Co-op. We shop in the bulk section a lot and always end up using their containers or bags. Not necessary with a little bit of planning.
3. Keep reusable shopping bags in the car and in my purse at all times.
4. Make more homemade snacks. I rely on the goldfish crackers and frozen waffles too much. I already own popsicle molds.
5. Rinse and reuse the plastic bags we use for freezing, especially stuff like bread that doesn't leave too much of a mess.