This summer when we were visiting my husband's grandparents in Florida (and for several visits in the past), we had to be very careful with how we took care of our trash. Anything that was wet or had any food particles in it had to go in a small trashcan in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. Milk jugs had to be washed out and then stepped on and crushed. All tin cans had to be crushed. I was doing the Slim Fast thing at the time (it's an easy meal for the road in my opinion anyway), and would rinse out the cans, but they're steel... so when she fussed at me to crush it and I told her it couldn't be crushed, she rolled her eyes and huffed. They also would rinse out plastic bags and smaller plastic things and put them all in a ziplock bag and asked us to take them to Wal Mart everytime we went and put it into the plastic recycling bin in the vestibule. It's not that they're into recycling...
Turns out they have to pay extra to have their trash picked up if they have more than one bag!!! Is that not insane?? A bunch of creeps ripping off the elderly in FL. I wanted to be there when they did a pick up and punch them. Instead, we took their garbage with us when we left and threw it away in a dumpster near the interstate. Least we could do for creating so much more trash than they normally have. I was still sad to see how much work she had to do to just deal with garbage.
But I admit since we got back, I have found myself crushing milk jugs and especially 2 liter bottles. I would like to have less garbage to have to dump. We'd been putting the bags in the back of the truck, but the truck died... and there's still a bed full of trash bags. Ewww. We need to tackle that issue asap. Also, I want to get us back on city trash pickup. The trash cans they give are huge, but still it's better to not make it overflow so coons can't get at it. Also, I like the idea of getting the wet/food trash out daily rather than letting it sit in the trash can for days til it's full and taken out. Especially since we have a huge trash can. We have had a chronic issue with fruit flies and giving them less to feed on in the trash can is a good thing.
So, tomorrow when Christopher and I go out to run errands and go grocery shopping, I'm going to look for a cheap small trashcan at a dollar store and try to see if we can train ourselves to use that with plastic shopping bags and get into the habit of throwing it out each night. Maybe I can even get into the habit of rinsing out cans from green beans or spaghetti sauce.
So, my question is for those who read this, how do you deal with your household garbage? Do you have a pickup service or city pickup? If so, how many of those big cans do you fill in a week? Do any of you do the wet/food garbage out nightly thing? Does anyone else have a huge 39 gallon size trash can in their kitchen like we do?
Thanks!!
Patty
(PS. I'm trying a new comment system, so please bear with it if it's being mean or not working.)
Turns out they have to pay extra to have their trash picked up if they have more than one bag!!! Is that not insane?? A bunch of creeps ripping off the elderly in FL. I wanted to be there when they did a pick up and punch them. Instead, we took their garbage with us when we left and threw it away in a dumpster near the interstate. Least we could do for creating so much more trash than they normally have. I was still sad to see how much work she had to do to just deal with garbage.
But I admit since we got back, I have found myself crushing milk jugs and especially 2 liter bottles. I would like to have less garbage to have to dump. We'd been putting the bags in the back of the truck, but the truck died... and there's still a bed full of trash bags. Ewww. We need to tackle that issue asap. Also, I want to get us back on city trash pickup. The trash cans they give are huge, but still it's better to not make it overflow so coons can't get at it. Also, I like the idea of getting the wet/food trash out daily rather than letting it sit in the trash can for days til it's full and taken out. Especially since we have a huge trash can. We have had a chronic issue with fruit flies and giving them less to feed on in the trash can is a good thing.
So, tomorrow when Christopher and I go out to run errands and go grocery shopping, I'm going to look for a cheap small trashcan at a dollar store and try to see if we can train ourselves to use that with plastic shopping bags and get into the habit of throwing it out each night. Maybe I can even get into the habit of rinsing out cans from green beans or spaghetti sauce.
So, my question is for those who read this, how do you deal with your household garbage? Do you have a pickup service or city pickup? If so, how many of those big cans do you fill in a week? Do any of you do the wet/food garbage out nightly thing? Does anyone else have a huge 39 gallon size trash can in their kitchen like we do?
Thanks!!
Patty
(PS. I'm trying a new comment system, so please bear with it if it's being mean or not working.)