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Alas, I had to end my trash challenge a couple of days ago. The left-overs that went bad in our refrigerator went worse in my trash challenge carry bag. So, I had to stop taking the bags into the office with me. Another day and more ripening led me to move the bag from inside the cab of my truck to the bed of the truck. Then it rained. I kept it with me for a couple more day, but finally I had to face facts. I put the bag in my cart and wheeled it to the curb yesterday.

I am still impressed with the amount of trash that my wife and I generated. Although nearly two weeks made up about 1 1/2 bags worth, loosely placed, it still seems like a lot of stuff to throw away.

After we consumers have finished with something, we have some choices for what happens to it next. We can throw everything into the trash- not a good idea. Or, we can send things to the recycler, composter, etc.

The thing is, what can be recycled or composted is often determined by the local permitting and regulatory restraints, as well as basic market realities. I read in one of the other posts that some places provide for food composting along with the yardwaste and greenwaste. In Southern California, we do not have that option currently. There are no permitted facilities within a reasonable trucking distance.

As far as foodwaste is concerned, compared to So. Ca. the Bay area and some cities in the Pacific Northwest might be ahead of us. The main reason for that is economics. In So.Ca. the LA County Sanitation Districts have traditionally set the market rates for disposal very low compared to many other areas of the country. I noticed, Tess, that you visited Scholl Canyon Landfill. That is one of the San District's sites. Their stated mission for years has been to ensure that local disposal prices remained low. Consequently, many of the alternatives to simple landfilling were not competitive and failed as going enterprises, or never received the financing necessary to open in the first place. Conversely, in the Bay area and points further north, disposal pricing has increased substantially for years. Their average price for disposal is, perhaps, twice what ours in So. Ca. is. The economics up north became such that alternative methods for handling wastes could and do compete.

At last, the trend here is toward higher disposal costs. Furthermore, there is a serious push to explore alternatives that would replace or supplement landfills. Things are going to get very interesting in my business over the next five to seven years.

I hope the trash challenge was fun for others. It was for me.

Doug Corcoran

Hey, congratulations on the empty bag!

Hm... I'm not so sure if I sent you my black plastic it really would get recycled. I have a feeling your city might be using the strategy that Radical Garbageman talked about, taking everything and landfilling whatever they can't use.

But maybe I'm wrong! We can hope.

As far as other people's food waste goes, I'm already carrying home my co-workers' coffee grounds and tea bags and fruit/veg peelings. They think I'm really weird. But I'm not the one carrying around a chicken carcass!

Cheers!

Dear Tess,

I commend you for taking on this challenge. I do believe that we can make a difference one household at a time.

I have a suggestion for any bones or stinky stuff. I live in a rural area where we take our garbage/household trash to the dump. I collect my bones and store in the freezer until I take it. The attendant really appreciates me especially in the summer when he has to smell all our garbage. Other things I do to cut down on garbage is to compost all organic matter including coffee grounds to be used in my garden once composted. I take my canvas bags shopping when I go to the grocery store. I recycle all that can be recycled by presorting newspapers, magazine, cardboard, glass, metal containers and plastic which has to be further presorted. By doing all of this, our family takes one kitchen garbage sack to the dump a week.

If we could only get our grocery stores and businesses like Costco to take up the challenge. I have asked Costco to give us the opportunity to recycle the plastic container instead of me having to hold onto these containers for three months which is how often our city recycles plastics. I do take my own boxes when I shop there. They claim they do take recycling in certain cities. Better yet, why not discontinue packaging in plastic containers altogether.

I love your program. The format makes it fun and entertaining while providing lots of valuable information. In this case, perhaps it will get all of us thinking of contributing a better earth as well to our retirement.

Regarding the now nationally famous chicken carcass:

Has no one else ever heard of broth?
One, it's delicious.
Two, it's cost effective.
Three, it reduces the volume and mass of food waste.
Four, if you absolutely insist on dragging the bones around with you, they won't smell so bad.