Trash Talk--Garbage for Two

Happy 45th Anniversary of Earth Day!!!

This beauty in our front flower garden at 7:15 a.m. today. Stunning! Is this a Tiger Moth?

Now Let's Talk Trash!

Two older adults don't make much garbage. I have learned that in the last few years. 

We especially do not make much garbage, since we recycle whenever we can. 

In fact, this week I threw two glass jars into the trash and felt guilty. Unfortunately there is no glass recycling deposit anywhere within a hundred miles from here. Not that I have found, anyway!

But for the rest we do our best to recycle and reuse in order to Save Our Earth!

What we do here in Wetcreek Territory:

1. Compost--We collect all veggie and fruit scraps in a stainless steel can (with filter and lid) in our kitchen and then empty it on our compost pile out behind our barn and carport. We have been able to use "yummy" compost for our vegetable garden a couple of times since we became "master" gardeners.

2. Recycle Plastic--Our tap water is not the best, so we do drink bottled water. We chose plastic bottles because they are easier to manage and our local recycling plant accepts plastic. This week on one of my trips into town with my mom to her doctor, I dropped off a huge bag of plastic water and milk bottles as well as anything else that was plastic trash. Check the bottom of the plastic product. You should find a triangle with a number inside it. Most plastic is recyclable and not TRASH!

3. Recycle Glass-- I don't purchase too many products packed in glass, but what I do I try to repurpose. Sometimes I use sauerkraut or spaghetti sauce jars for storage. (Remember the mice in my pantry?). We have even thought about transporting a boxful of glass items all the way to a recycling plant near our son's home in Texas.

4. Read the Newspaper on the Internet-- Both my husband and I read the Dutch and American news online everyday. Our local paper guy will not deliver out here in the woods, and we tried a WSJ subscription for a while. But I still would have to drive into our village to pick up the paper everyday, since we don't have mail delivery out here either.

5. Repurpose-- As avid collectors, we try to reuse whatever we can. Just this week my hub trimmed our boxwoods with a vintage electric hedge trimmer that his father used back in the 1970's. It worked fine! We also have our own trimmer from the 1990's, and it works great, too. Before we buy something new, we look around here for something we can use.

So back to the trashy stuff. 

We usually have one normal size garbage bag with non- recyclable trash every other week. (If I told you that while we were at the Beltway Apartment in The Netherlands for six weeks we didn't even have one full bag, would you believe me? Almost everything is recycled free WITH PICK-UP! And each real garbage bag costs about $2.50 to place in the computerized underground trash depot located across the street. And remember we are ch...thrifty!!)