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Tess Vigeland, I am really inspired by your experiment. Sueann Remella of Northwest Public Radio is inspired too, and is doing her own trash experiement for only 1 week. She discovered that chicken bones can be composted as long as they are buried deep into the compost pile. A friend here composts chicken bones too, but his cat does go digging for them to eat them. Good luck on your 2 week journey! I am excited to read and hear more as the experiement goes on.

I read an article on Co Op America:
21 Things You Didn't Know You Could Recycle. Maybe you can get some cool ideas! I had never thought about donating my used-till-they're-holey bath towels. I just kept them on a shelf at the back door for rainy, muddy days. I have more than I really need on that shelf, but I didn't want to throw them out. The suggestion was to donate them to a kennel or dog shelter so they can use them for the dogs. Great idea!

I was stuck by your first paragraph in today's post. I am curious if you completely forget about the trash challenge while walking the grocery aisles? When I walk the grocery aisles I am always thinking of the life of the product; where it will end up. (Not that I won't buy it if it can't be recycled, but at least I can't not think about it.) I ask about your situation last night as a serious question because what about millions of other people shopping for groceries everyday without a "trash challenge" of your type, but still the larger challenge of trying to find a place for the non-edible/compostable/recyclable portion of their purchase? How do we come to a point where we can't not think about it?

I read your blog today regarding trash collection in Cleveland. I live in Los Angeles and Waste Management used to have a separate recycle bin where you put cans, paper, plastic. 18 months ago they started a new program where ALL your trash (recycling included) goes into your special trash can and they say it is sorted at the plant. We were told that it was cheaper to do it that way. Yard waste is still collected in a separate container and picked up by a different truck.

I also work at two different places and we have found that our trash companies have scaled back on their recycling of cardboard and cans. Apparently it was not profitable enough for them, so they have stopped collecting. Go figure.

In response to Anonymous:

"How do we come to a point where we can't not think about it?"

I think for the most part we (citizens of the US) are Unconscious Consumers. The majority don't even realize that we should be thinking about the "larger challenge of trying to find a place for the non-edible/compostable/recyclable portion of their purchase? "

What will it take?

Awareness - hearing it over and over again? Will labeling a product with it's "sustainabilty index" help? (We have nutritional information on food and yet we still love to eat junk food.)

$$$$ - When the real costs of an item are reflected in it's cost to the consumer?

Education - start with the young ones and don't stop...I'm old enough to remember the "don't pollute" campaigns of the '70's - and I never forgot the basic lessons - but I did get caught up in consumerism when I got older, graduated, got a good job and had money to spend.

Actually I don't know what will work...I try to keep a positive outlook - believing that people want to do the right thing - if they just knew what it was - but sometimes I think that too much of the human race is too confused, stupid, lazy and/or selfish to actually change enough to survive.

Hi Tess. I just read about your trash challenge on the Californians Against Waste web site. Thank you for bringing national attention to this issue.

For the past 13 weeks, I've been collecting and documenting my plastic waste on my blog, Fake Plastic Fish: http://www.fakeplasticfish.com. But I just joined the trash challenge tonight, so I'll start to collect my non-plastic waste (which I don't think is much) and let you and my blog readers know how it goes.

Probably the bulk of my non-plastic garbage are Natracare biodegradable pantiliners. (Too much information?) Does anyone know if these are compostable? Feel free to contact me directly through my Blogger profile.

Re chicken bones, etc. All types of food waste (including bones) can be processed via a food waste disposer, and transported via underground sewers to wastewater treatment plants that are expert in making fertilizer out of the organic solids, while efficiently capturing methane - usually for onsite use.

After all, no significant difference between food and human waste; both @ 70% water, with similar chemical composition. If we were 100% efficient with our food, then only toilets would be necessary for sanitation, with fertilizer production still being the end-goal....but since we're not, combining food scraps and human waste makes good sense as a systems solution -- meaning for those of us who can't keep chickens or coyotes in our backyards.

Hi again. I was thinking about that roasted chicken and the plastic container that it came in. Where I live, that kind of container cannot be recycled if it's got a black plastic bottom. Recyclers for the various cities have different rules about what can and cannot be recycled, and only Daly City takes all numbers of plastic except black.

So I looked up L.A.'s recycling program and was amazed to see that they take every kind of plastic and styrofoam container.

I just wonder what actually happens to all the recycling that they pick up. I wonder if all of it actually gets recycled. Here in Oakland, they refuse to pick up any plastic except narrow-necked bottles because they feel there is no market for other kinds of plastic and they don't want to ship things to China or have to landfill items that they can't sell.

Have you done research to find out where all the recycled material actually goes that gets picked up in L.A.?

Hey! I love it when listeners move between local and national! As Laura mentions below... I am on the one week challenge! I didn't want to set myself up for failure. However, this weekend I am going to visit my family. They shop at Costco. Huge family of 3 we are. I have a feeling my Korean Mother will not be pleased with my trash. Q-tips. What do we do with Q-tips?

Awesome challenge--especially the part about carrying it around with you! It's wonderful to have something so creative & graphic for people to experience.

On the cereal box front, I save "prime junk" for the art teacher at the school near my house (bottle tops, egg containers, yogurt containers, fabric scraps, the plastic container my light bulb came in if I didn't have to cut it open--anything that has an interesting shape or color and is safe for small children). I imagine that anyplace that cares for small children (nursery school, church school, public or private school, etc.) could be an outlet for this--but ASK first.

Green Disk is an awesome company that recycles electronic waste, including CD's, laptops, cell phones, and mouses (mice?). Go to: www.greendisk.com.
For a small fee (depending on the size) they will send you a box to collect your e-waste. When the box is full, they will email you a mailing lable you can print. The postal service will pick the box up from you! as long as it's on a walking route.

And how about reducing the amount of trash that needs to be recycled. Go to Junkbusters to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive: www.junkbusters.com/. Every time I get a catalog or mailing from a company that I don't support, I call them on their 800 number or use their prepaid mailer to ask to be taken off their list. Over time that has significantly reduced the amount of unwanted mail that I get. Wish we had a national Do Not Junk registry!

You never know when something you say or do will have an effect on someone else. I'm the "green sheep" at church, and have been pushing sustainable ideas for years. I often hear years later that something I said helped someone make a change in their habits. The only thing we can do is to keep on doing this and educating people. They may not respond today or tomorrow, but maybe next week or next year something will click with them. And we cannot afford to get frantic about how little time we have left. If we do, we might quit because the task is too big. We can only do what we can do. And we should not judge other people who don't live the way we want them to. We must lead by example, and provide education. If we judge people, they will feel that, and they will be much less likely to change.

My favorite quote, from Edward Everett Hale:
"I am only one
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

What about returning the non-compostable packaging to the store from which it came? Take it to the Customer Service Dept and tell them that you are returning unneeded and unwanted parts from your purchase.

Regarding the chicken bones. You noted this morning that you will now buy skinless, boneless chicken breast. That really doesn't solve the problem. Someone has to throw away the mess and the bones. Perhaps a chicken producer grinds the stuff up and feeds it back to chicken or pigs. Also what about the waste associated with raising the chickens (industrial farming etc.)? I'm not a vegetarian but looking at raw chicken and raising these questions has made me cut back a lot on my meat consumption.