Garbage and recycling - how much?

[homesteadmamma]

How many bags of garbage do you put out each week?

How much recycling do you put out each week?

We are down to 1/2 bag of garbage and a couple of bags for recycling. My goal though is to get even less in recycling. That doesn't mean were not still recycling, but I'm looking at different ways in which to purchase items.

I purchase much of my food items at the health food store. All the plastic bags that the items come in I store for both freezing and for putting fresh bread in. I also try to purchase food items that are in paper bags which can be recycled.

We've quit drinking pop here and now drink water, so there are no more pop bottles being put in the recycling. That was a huge amount we use to put in.

We've stopped purchasing newspapers and again, we now have far less paper going into recycling. Now if I could just stop those flyers from coming in the mail.

We give to friends or send all used clothing no longer in use to goodwill rather than putting them into the recycling box. At least I know that they are being used that way.

What about you?

[scooby]

CJ, here is a cut & paste of a post I put on another site. In it it tells how to get those flyers stopped.

Stop junk mail, email and phone calls
Your name, address, and buying habits are a commodity that is regularly sold & traded on the open market. These days organizations you deal with virtually all sell your name unless you specifically ask them to stop.

Here are some general techniques:

Whenever you donate money, order a product or service, or fill out a warranty card, write in large letters, "Please do not sell my name or address."

On the telephone, tell them to Your credit card company probably sells your name the most often. Call them and ask them to stop. "Please mark my account so that my name is not traded or sold to other companies".

To stop specific types of unwanted paper mail
First class mail:." Cross out the address and bar code, circle the first class postage and write "refused: return to sender". Drop in any mail box, it will be returned to the sender.
Bulk mail:." The post office throws away bulk mail it can't deliver, so returning it does no good. Bulk mail is the hardest to deal with because the USPS actively provides addresses, support and encouragement to mailers. However, if "address correction requested" is written on the label: circle "address correction requested" and treat like first class mail.
Credit offers: ."The major credit agencies all sell aggregate credit information any bidder. Direct mail and credit companies generate mail based on demographics including zip code, income band and credit payment patterns. Stopping this is easy, you just need your address, former address within two years, and social security number. One call does it all for agencies Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Innovis. Dial 1-888-5 OPT OUT (or 1-888-567-8688) 24 hours a day.
Catalogs:." Call the company's 800 number and have the label handy.
Write your instructions on the mailing label and fax it to the company. Mark "ATTN: customer service". Tear off the label, write your instructions on it, and enclose in the postage-paid ordering envelope. Mark envelope "ATTN: customer service". This method is the least effective.
America OnLine Discs:." call 1-800-827-6364 (6am-2am EST) to get off the list.
Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes: ." contact customer service at 1-800-645-9242 (8:30 am to 8:30 EST), sending a fax to 1-800-453-0272, mailing to 101 Channel Drive, Port Washington, NY 11050, or you can send email to pch@ant.net. PCH will remove any number of names from a specific address, but you have to list each name exactly and insist nicely.
American Family Sweepstakes: ."Ed McMahon and Dick Clark will stop telling you "You have definitely won 11 million dollars (maybe) " if you call them at 1-800-237-2400. AFP is a division of Time-Warner.
Local business & supermarket fliers: All mailings must be identified, by postal regulations. Each lose-leaf bundle of fliers, by postal regulations, must be delivered at the same time as an address card. Locate this address card; the cards usually have an advertisement and a photograph of a missing child. Call directory assistance to get the phone number of the sender, and call to get off the list:
ADVO (Mail comes with pictures of missing children). ."Call 1-860-285-6100 to get off the list.
Val-Pak Coupons:." You must fax the envelope to 508-626-9925 or mail it to 1661 Worcester Rd, Framingham MA 01701. Val-Pak may be contacted at 1-800-676-6878.
Carol Wright." Call 1-800-67-TARGET to get off the list.
Your local newspaper & supermarket." (look for a phone number on the piece).
Most senders are professional companies which will handle your request politely.

Too much junk to deal with individually: Start by sending a postcard or letter to DMA Mail Preference Service, PO Box 9008, Farmingdale NY 11735-9008. Include your complete name, address, zip code and a request to "activate the preference service". For up to five years, this will stop mail from all member organizations that you have not specifically ordered products from. This option may stop catalogs and promotions you would have liked to receive.
To stop mail addressed to former residents, or a former spouse."
If you rent you are probably familiar with receiving mail for a dozen or more former residents of your dwelling. Since you probably don't want any of the stuff, you can use two powerful techniques that might not be appropriate for yourself: Bulk mail for "current resident or ...": Start with sending a postcard or letter to DMA Mail Preference Service, PO Box 9008, Farmingdale NY 11735-9008. Write "please activate the mail preference service", and include the name, address, and zip code. You must send individual postcards -- for some strange reason the DMA does not officially accept listings for former residents, and will ignore requests that don't appear to be from a single individual.
To stop First class and some bulk mail addressed to former residents who neglected to fill out a Post Office change of address card, or it has expired, ."you can fill one out for them. You must fill out one card for each unique last name. Write "Moved, Left No Forwarding Address" as the new address. Sign your own name and write "Form filled in by current resident of the house, [Your Name], agent for the above". You must write "agent for the above". ."Hand this form directly to your carrier, if possible, as your carrier must approve the form and see that it gets entered into the post service National Change of Address (NCOA) database. This is very effective.
More ideas on dealing with paper junk mail

Even though junk mail can often be recycled, most junk mail use virgin paper, often of types with poor recycling value and toxic inks. Recycling itself takes energy and resources and has its own impacts on the environment. Reduction, where possible, is the far better choice.

Federal law prohibits telemarketers from "Initiating an outbound telephone call to a person when that person previously has stated that he or she does not wish to receive an outbound telephone call made by or on behalf of the seller whose goods or services are being offered.". You may simply interrupt the telemarketer and say "Please permanently remove me from your calling list". Remember that they just interrupted you. If the same people call back, they are violating the law. Ask them for their company name, supervisor name and phone number. If you wish to quote Federal law to the telemarketer, you may read it at Federal Trade Commission: Telemarketing Sales Rule.
General Telemarketing calls: Send a postcard with your complete telephone number, area code, address, and names of people receiving calls to DMA Telephone Preference Service, PO Box 9014, Farmingdale NY 11735-9014.


To stop unwanted electronic mail ("SPAM")
It is very hard to effectively combat junk electronic mail. It costs nothing to send out a few million email messages, so there is no disincentive for people to do so. Most SPAM mailers forge the headers, email return address and sending machine name because they are sick of reading the thousands of inevitable complaints. The offers to remove your name from a list are generally untrue, and often result in your name getting added to yet another list. Many internet providers have policies against SPAM, and will take action. Unfortunately some providers either don't care or are SPAM-friendly. There are ways you can reduce exposure and complain:

Never never never reply to a SPAM email.

Secure your web page: If you include a "mailto" link, as below, expect to get junk mail. Remove the "mailto" and force people to manually enter the email address.

Complain to your Senator or Representative: Laws will be needed to regulate the eventual legitimate email advertising industry.




HTH~~~~~ Remember we can all make a difference.

__________________

[QuilterMom]

We generally have 3 of the kitchen can sized bags in the trash each week.

We can only recycle certain things - our newspaper bin is full of newspapers and inserts, but cannot contain any magazines or things you receive in the mail. I do cut apart magazines (for letters, numbers and pictures) so ds can use them in homeschooling activities (alphabet book, phonics activities, etc.).

I recycle all #1 and #2 plastics (those are the only ones our city accepts) so if it has one of those #'s in the triangle, in the bin it goes.

We are bad about not recycling our aluminum cans (from canned veggies and such) because I hate to run up the water bill rinsing them all out (and if they aren't cleaned out spotless we'd end up with a garage full of ants).

We don't drink soda so I don't have anything like that to recycle and we use very little that comes in glass jars, but I do recycle those when we have them.

[aylasmommy]

We usually have a full or overfulling large garbage bin each week..so about 10 kitches sized bags full or more..

We recycle aluminum and plastic and glass beverage containers for the CRV..

other than that all the garbage is recycled at the site so we don't have to worry about that..

But i do try to stay away from buying wastefully packaged products if i can help it. I use the store bags for trash bags ..and a few things are reused for something else now and then..

[heaven]

okay well i have at least a bag of trash a day . but in my defense there is no recycling here in town. so i don't do it. i do reuse some stuff though does that count, like my milk jugs i am saving those now, and some newspapers i have those for several project, glass and plastic jars save those too.