Why do we create so much trash for the landfills?

[gtaus]

I save empty beer boxes and rip off sections to use as disposable cutting boards for meat, or to drain fried foods on. And I've cut off the ends of beer boxes and used them to grow my garden seedlings in.

I bet if you bought more beer, you would probably think of even more uses for the beer boxes.

Hey honey, I need to shred some more cardboard for the chicken coop litter, so I'm going to have to drink more beer so I have more beer boxes to shred!

More seriously, using the cardboard as a disposable cutting board or as a pot to grow seedlings in is a pretty neat use of that cardboard. I had not thought of using cardboard for draining fried foods. I have an air fryer now so draining the food is not as issue. But Dear Wife still pan fries some of her food and your cardboard hack would work for some of her stuff. Great idea.

 

[Smokerbill]

I bet if you bought more beer, you would probably think of even more uses for the beer boxes.

Hey honey, I need to shred some more cardboard for the chicken coop litter, so I'm going to have to drink more beer so I have more beer boxes to shred!

More seriously, using the cardboard as a disposable cutting board or as a pot to grow seedlings in is a pretty neat use of that cardboard. I had not thought of using cardboard for draining fried foods. I have an air fryer now so draining the food is not as issue. But Dear Wife still pan fries some of her food and your cardboard hack would work for some of her stuff. Great idea.

And that greasy cardboard works great as a firestarter for your stump fires. LOL

You've probably seen my chickens' nest boxes, haven't you?

 

[Sally PB]

If you do retire the old fridge, maybe you could paint it green and repurpose it as a raised garden bed!? That would keep it out of the landfill for a while. Additionally, if you can make the fridge watertight, you could probably convert it into a sub-irrigated raised bed which would make it more valuable than the fridge itself. If/when I have a dead refrigerator, I am going to try to convert it into a sub-irrigated raised bed. If you had to buy one, that would cost you lots of money.

We've talked about making the old fridge into some kind of pest free storage thingie, or a very large dehydrator.

It will probably get some second life. It has been very good to us. I forgot to mention that it was one of 3 used appliances (washer, dryer, fridge) we bought when we moved into this house. $500 for all 3, delivered, installed. We've replaced the washer. $167 for a dryer and the same for a fridge that have lasted 29+ years. Not bad...

 

[Perris]

I think we need to find a bacteria or something that eats and destroys all those plastic products. That would be nice.

Would be really nice if they would figure out how to mainstream them and bring down the cost.

Good news on this front today:
https://phys.org/news/2024-01-enzyme-laundry-detergent-recycle-plastics.html

short quote from it to indicate the breakthrough: "We've turned this problem around and applied it to the issue of recycling the single-use bioplastics we use in our everyday lives using a common enzyme found in biological laundry detergent."

 

[gtaus]

Good news on this front today:
https://phys.org/news/2024-01-enzyme-laundry-detergent-recycle-plastics.html

short quote from it to indicate the breakthrough: "We've turned this problem around and applied it to the issue of recycling the single-use bioplastics we use in our everyday lives using a common enzyme found in biological laundry detergent."

Thanks for sharing that link. I had to read it twice to understand it once, but I got there. Sounds like a giant step forward in recycling PLA plastics with the potential to be used on other plastics with some modifications. That's what we need to start reducing all that plastic junk in our environment.

I hope they can figure out how to quickly compost other types of plastics as well. Or, even if they only find they can compost a few types of plastic, maybe we can move to just using those compostable and recyclable plastics in the future. That would be nice.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I have serious doubts about all the stuff we put in the recycle bin actually get recycled. Many years ago, when I lived in Minneapolis, the newspaper did an exposé on the recycling program. They followed the recycle truck as they picked up all those separate bins for glass, metal, plastic, and paper, and then followed them out to the landfill where everything was dumped into a one large pile. Nothing was recycled.

I hope things have improved, but I doubt it. Mostly, I think it's just a scam to make us feel better about dumping garbage.

So, I do my best to reuse, repurpose, or reduce the amount of material that ends up in our recycle bins. The bulk of our stuff is probably paper products and packaging. I shred almost all our paper and light cardboard food boxes at home and use that as chicken coop litter. Heavy cardboard can be repurposed as weed barrier for the gardens and pathways.

I try to reuse some glass containers for food items instead of using plastic. I try to repurpose some plastic containers for use out in the garage. I use metal cans in the garage, but don't need very many.

I don't have any big solution to our garbage problems, but at least by shredding paper and feeding all our kitchen scraps and leftovers to the chickens, recycling what items are eligible, we have reduced our throw out garbage to about 1 bag per month.

About a month ago I examined what really gets tossed into our kitchen garbage can. Mostly, it's stuff like used paper towels, napkins, plastic wrap and trays from food items, and that was about it.

Everything in our trash bag was burnable, so I dumped it into my fire barrel that I was using to burn out a stump. The garbage burned up in no time, but I added branches and split wood on top so it would burn longer. All that was left was a tiny pile of ashes. No need to drive into town to get rid of the trash. Saved time, money, and effort and put all that kitchen trash to good use burning out a stump. Well, it takes a lot of wood and time to burn out a stump, but I think you get the idea that the kitchen trash was used in the process in a small way. Anyways, the trash did not end up in a landfill somewhere.

I hope you didn't burn plastic.

 

[Callender Girl]

Just came across this thread today and enjoyed reading all the past posts.

Wonderful news on the plastics!

I try to live a more sustainable lifestyle and repurpose as much as possible. Great information in this thread with some ideas I can incorporate. Plus, I can now explain to my sister why her local recycling option no longer accepts glass. Thank you!

I am not sure I believe that a dishwasher uses less water than hand washing, but I hate dishwashing and love my Whirlpool. Its little detergent packs come in hinged-lid plastic tubs (I know, not good) that are perfect for storing small hardware in the garage and are easily labeled by writing with a marker. The "labels" are on the front of the lid, and the tubs stack three-high perfectly on shelves.

 

[Jenbirdee]

how do you shred the paper and what kinds of paper can and cant be used as bedding - my mom says the ink is toxic

 

[saysfaa]

Plastic water bottles are one of the easiest things to eliminate from the waste stream.

The water refill stations in the grocery store allow decades of use per container if you buy the 3- or 5- gallon jugs made for that purpose. Or at least months of use per "milk jug" type of plastic (they are sold by the refill station either empty or with water in them).

And the water costs much less than the bottles of water.

 

[saysfaa]

If you recycle glass, it is important to differentiate between glass and ceramics. Ceramics have higher melting points and will clog up the machinery used in reusing glass because it is not fully melted as it goes through. It is very expensive to clear the mess. There are ways to screen the ceramics out but it is much, much, much better if they aren't mixed in the first place. This is one way to support recycling.