The Trash Bin Challenge

 

The state of our economy, and the world for that matter, is in shambles.  I think we can all agree on that, and although we may feel powerless and helpless to do much about it, there is still a lot of things we can do that will have a great impact.  I am a firm believer that a small change creates the big change.  If each of us takes steps to be more mindful, careful and more sustainable I believe it will create a ripple effect.  I also think it can start with something as simple as our trash.

 

We all know that dealing with our trash has been an issue for a long time so I won't get into all that, but what I'd like to do is ask you to not only create less of it but also to really look at it.  Without a thought Americans set out gobs and gobs of trash at the curb each week to be hauled off and dealt with.  What if we just dealt with it ourselves?  What if we didn't need someone else to do this for us?

 

We need to create less trash to begin with by making more intentional and mindful purchases.  And when we do make a purchase we come up with a plan for what we will do with it.  Not just the item we buy but all that packaging that goes along with it.  What can we recycle?  What can we reuse?  What can be composted?  What can we avoid in the first place?

 

We have a wheelie bin for trash, a blue wheelie bin for recycling and a sizeable compost bin in our backyard.  We have orange bags to collect the harder to recycle items.  Our city offers green compostable items bins for curbside pick up as well.  In our garage I keep one orange bag hanging up to collect primarily Styrofoam and plastic bags.  A five gallon bucket collects mostly cans and some plastic bottles that we cannot find a useful purpose for.  Another five gallon bucket collects our glass.  Glass recycling has to be taken in to a special collection center, but they make it easy on us by placing collection bins in various areas of our city.  We have one at the supermarket.  Anything hazardous is set aside to be taken in to the same supermarket once a month on hazardous waste collection day.  We have loads of options for dealing with trash.

 

Here is my challenge to all of you.  How long you can go before you need to set your trash at the curb for pick up?  What are other things you can do with your stuff before it is considered garbage worthy of a trip to the landfill?  How minimal can you be with your waste?  It will take some thought, but can you imagine how impactful this could be?  And, what if you challenged your friends, neighbors and family members to do the same thing?  And then, what if all of those people challenged the people they know?  Can you imagine?  What if we made this go viral?