Go Green, Save Green

What is the point of trash pick up service if you don't have any trash? I pay $26 a month for a trash truck to take my waste out of site out of mind so I can maintain a clear conscience. After the past few weeks of learning to reduce waste by recycling and composting, I found that there really isn't anything left to throw away. So again, not only am I reducing my ecological footprint, but I'm going to save $312 a year in trash pick up by canceling my service (not to mention the cost saved in purchasing trash bags). Try it, you will be surprised.

14 Days and Counting

15 days ago I was living my 'norm' complacent and content. Since then, a fire has been lit inside me to challenge the basic ways of life in America. The idea came to me during an unrelated sermon the Sunday prior. In an attempt to make a change for my daughter's generation, I am on a mission guided by the reality in my own day to day life to 'challenge the norm'. I hope that my experiences resignate with others to question their own choices and live based on what they believe is moral, not what is 'normal' in soceity. With so many topics in mind to confront and no idea where to start, my journey has grown its own two legs and my path has been cleared for me.

So far, in the past two weeks:

1. I have cut my house hold waste by more than 75%.  I have taken up trash digging as an unwanted hobby and learned that after you recycle and compost there really isn't anything left to waste.   
2. I have learned to use my resources to find ways to recycle items not typically accepted (styrofoam, electronics, bags and wrappers).       
3. I have swithced my plastic trash bags to the +Seventh Generation brand which are better for the environment. 
4. I unloaded a lot of unwanted items on +Craigslist ad posting service to be reused by others.
5. I was given a set of three compost bins and two rain barrels from a friend. I have installed and started using them with the help of my sister, an environmental teacher in Pittsburgh.
6. I purchased a counter top compost container and a three tier recycling bin system to make life easier on my family.
7. I contacted the township to better understand how my town handles recycling and what actually ends up happening to the waste.
8. I made plans to visit the local recycling facility Recycling Services, Inc. in Pottstown, PA  to learn more about the process.
9. I decided to make the switch to Bum Genius cloth diapers which should be happening with in the next week when my shipment arrives. I have also purchased +Seventh Generation disposable diapers to tie me over until I receive them.    
10. I switched from plastic bags at th grocery store to reusable.
11. Lastly, but most importantly, I managed to get the support of my husband and step-daughter to help take the weight off of my shoulders.

New Additions to the Family

My husband, step daughter, Luna and I welcomed a few members to our family today!  Say hello to our 'new' compost bins, rain barrels and three tiered recycling tubs!  In case you didn't notice, I am actually very excited. No, I did not name them, but it is still early. 

I did have to buy the recycling tubs in order to get something that worked for my family, but the compost bins and rain barrels were given to me by a friend in exchange for helping her with a project.  I also got a small ceramic compost container for my counter top in effort to make things easier on everyone. With these new additions I hope that my trash digging ends today. I still have one more can to get through though, gross! I think I am beginning to get a complex.  Someone one that read my blog last week gave me some advice; "not to get too weird".  If they only knew!

Honestly, all the changes that I have made in a little over a weeks time have been so simple and EASY.  As I told my sister, who is an environmental teacher at a charter school in Pittsburgh, I am just relearning what we were taught in elementary school.  It is not hard, it just takes some small adjustments out of the norm, but it make such a huge impact!

What are your recycling habits?  Share your stories, I am finding the best way to learn new ideas and improve are testimonials from others!

Inconvenienced by the Convenient

Working on becoming a better consumer this past week has been challenging. It's amazing how my life had conformed around convenience and not what is ethical. Unfortunately, I think most Americans conform as I did.

I know the idea of wasting less does not seem astronomical, but you should try it. Once you are stuck in your ways it is very difficult to change your norm, or maybe it's just me. I question everything I do now. I managed to only toss 5% of what I would typically, but it took work. I had to pick through my full trash can twice to sort out the recyclable and compostables, both times were nauseating.

I also had to do my homework. I didn't realize how little I knew until I started sorting through my trash. I contacted the township to find out the do's and don't's of recycling. They were a huge help. I also downloaded a great app called WGW Recycle. It made it so easy, you type in what you want to recycle and it tells you exactly what to do with it. It even directs you to local recycling sites that take some of the things are typically not accepted.

Our fast paced society that demands convenience has made it so difficult to live life otherwise. Everything we eat, drink or buy is individually packaged to make things fast and easy. I have to quickly to make some process changes for my family and me or it will never work. What I learned from the app and the township was a start, but I have a whole lot more work to do to have an easy, streamlined system.

Cloth it is!

Through much deliberation I have decided to go with cloth diapers.  It was an easy decision after hearing the opinions from the many people that have used or are using cloth. There were only a few discouraging stories, but I will hope for the best.

I wish I didn't have such unsettling memories of cloth diapers growing up. I might have actually listened to my husband and made the switch sooner. I just remember being at the sitters after school. She had a baby and used cloth (20 years ago). The saftey pins, smell and unpredictability gave me a sour impression that I held onto.

I bought my first trial diaper, Bum Genius.  This brand won the vote hands down.  Funny, the only brands of diapers I knew before this were Huggies and Pampers!  They are much different than I remember.  Luna tried them out this afternoon.  Not only do they look super comfortable, they are easy and are also really cute!  As I was warned, the initial investment seems scary, but they pay themselves off quickly and actually end up to be less expensive in the long run. 

I have heard some controversy over how they are not much better for the environment because of the amount of water and detergent you use. I'd be interested to hear opinions on this. Like I said in the beginning, this is a journey for me. I don't claim to be an expert, I am just hoping to learn and make a difference.

Spring Cleaning

Motherhood, working fulltime, and a million other lame excuses have put my house in dire need of some attention. I am big on zero clutter and crazy about organizing so spring cleaning is like a holiday for me.  So, the 'holiday' that typically would take me a weekend will probably be extended a couple of weeks due to my new awareness of waste.

Spring cleaning and the 'American norm' usually results in a mound of full trash bags waiting on the curb for pick up. Fortunately for the earth and unfortunately for my time, I am challenging my norm and spring cleaning with hopes to make a smaller ecological footprint than years before.

So far, with a room and a half complete I have not thrown anything away. I posted an ad on +Craigslist ad posting service and thirty minutes later I had a truck load of my stuff hauled off to its new home. If you haven't used it, Craigslist is a great way to recycle your things and help people in need, "one woman's trash is another woman's treasure".  Don't commend me yet, I still have all of my other unwanted clutter awaiting its fate in boxes. Sorting will be the next task.

I am finding that if I want this to become a lifestyle for me and my family I am going to have to make it easier for us to 'Reduce, Reuse and Recycle' ("3R's" Luna's favorite song by Jack Johnson) or it is going to be an epic fail. 

The Diaper Situation

:)

Since my eye opening trash debacle on Wednesday I have been analyzing everything I (and others) use and throw away. It's slightly annoying to be worrying about what others are disposing of in addition to working on my own trash issue. I just keep reminding myself "little by little" or "habba ne babba" as my African Religion Professor would have said.

I have not yet attempted to get my family on board with supporting my change in lifestyle, but all in good time. Until then, I will be forced to sort through their trash, which I did this evening.  Needless to say, it was gross and not something I look forward to doing again. That 'same page' conversation needs to happen soon. Anyway, I was able sort through the full trash can and recycle all but a piece of tin foil and a TON of diapers. A recycling and compost system is a must and, as I expected, my search for an alternative to Luna's diapers is imperative.

Since potty training a six months old is unheard of, as far as I know my options are either cloth or compostable. Besides the Internet, I have received some great advise from an old friend. If anyone has recent experience with either please share. I plan to make the big switch this weekend in effort to change my norm of filling the landfill one dirty diaper at a time.

Wasted

Let's dive right in...

I ran out of trash bags this morning. I was forced to watch what I wasted for a full 12 hours today. That doesn't seem like a long time, but you would be surprised how much stuff you actually throw away without a second thought.

In a typical week my family throws away almost a full 100 gallons of trash. For $26 I have my waste picked up once a week and taken out of site so I can carry on with a clear conscience. Keep in mind, my family consists of my husband, step daughter (half the week), 6 month old daughter and me. That's not exactly a huge family, but a huge amount of waste. I am ashamed. I live two miles from a land fill so the effects are somewhat visible.

I had an 'opportunity' to clean out a hoarders house last month and see the effects first hand. We threw away 30 years of trash equaling five construction size dumpsters from one small 1000 sq ft house. At first I was angry at the family and how much we were forced to dispose of. Then I realized, that is probably the typical amount of waste from an average American household for that time span just hidden by the innocent trash truck that tow it to Neverland. Wow, there is so much wrong with that mentality and that was my mentality.

So, in that 12 hours without a trash can I began to second guess the things that I was using. It sounds gross, but I stacked a pile of trash by my front door in a box. I was forced to make better decisions. Instead of paper towels I used rags. My moldy bread went to the birds. Cans, bottles and bags went in recycling. The rest of my meal went to the compost. Any papers went in the burn pile (I know, I know, but one problem at a time). By the end of the day I was left with only dirty diapers to dispose of. What would have been a half full trash can remains almost empty. I guess it's time to consider cloth diapers, yikes!

Finally, since I am not prepared to become 100% environmentally friendly I went to buy trash bags before dinner and I came across the brand "seventh generation" that uses 55% recycled plastic. It is said to "dramatically reduce toxic pollution." Out of the many options, this was the only trash bag geared towards slowing down our wasteful devastation, so I bought it. I haven't researched the brand yet, but I like what I have read.

What a small step in the opposite direction, but it is a beginning. If we remain complacent, my daughters generation is going to end up in a world like the movie Idiocracy. If you haven't seen it, it's worth the $1 at RedBox. I challenge you to question your norm and share your stories of waste and what you are willing to change to make this world a better place for generations to come.

The Beginning of a Journey

I am a new mother of a beautiful little girl named Luna Paisley.  As expected, since she came into this world six months ago, my life has changed drastically.  Not only is a typical day no longer a typical day, but I found myself constantly dissatisfied with normality in America.  Her well being is my responsibility.  That is a big job in itself, but given the state of our country it is even bigger than I imagined. 

This is not a democrat vs republican rant, I've had about enough of that.  In my opinion, the division of the parties has done more harm than good and we have been distracted from the true problems. It is more of an "I am tired of the direction that we have taken this country and I am going to stop being complacent and make a change."  I don't want my little girl to grow up blinded by the ways of society.  She deserves to be handed the truth in order to form her own decisions.  She shouldn't have to search for it.

Now, you may wonder the direction that this blog is going to go based on the above.  This is more of a journey to discover the truth behind the clutter created by society, greed and our complacency.  I plan to learn as I go and share what I uncover with you.  Do with it what you may.  I don't claim to have all the answers, but I feel that our freedom and right to pursue happiness has been compromised.  It seems that the pursuit of money and power within the country has become more important than the health and well being of 'its' people and 'its' people have voluntarily put on their blindfolds and followed the flock to the slaughterhouse to feed the greed.  It's a vicious cycle.   

So for her sake, mine and yours...I am questioning the norm.