Looking at getting rid of trash pick up....

[nicoli20]

My wife and I currently have recycling and trash pickup where we live. We pay around $40 bucks for every three months. We are currently looking at stopping our trash pick up service, but still keeping our recycling service (We normally don't have much in the way of trash, we recycle most everything). We would compost most everything that we could not recycle and then hopefully only have a small amount of trash that we would have to get rid of some other way.

Does anyone currently do this? Are we being too cheap? Having just recycling would save us about $28 bucks every three months.



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I am 34, pursing FIRE at 50, 230k Net worth currently and working towards my goal of 1,250k net worth. Married with two children and loving the journey.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

We do not do this--we rent, so not an option--but have friends that do. I feel guilty every time we visit them and I have to throw away a disposable diaper! (They use cloth, as do we at home.) They carry their trash to the landfill in their Prius and it seems to work well for them. They recycle and compost. They do not compost meat scraps, but keep these in the freezer so they don't stink (obviously, they don't have a lot of meat scraps!). I think it does make them more disciplined about waste!

[Chranstronaut]

I briefly considered something like this, but it didn't seem worth it to me.  I don't have outside space to compost, but I do have a garbage disposal and generate much more recycling than trash.  We generally put out one bag of trash every two weeks and our 20 gal can accommodates about 2.5 tall trash bags.

I happen to live less than 1 mile from a garbage transfer station.  It costs $20 to dump at the transfer station, but my tiny trash can costs $10 a month.  So I'd have to go at least three months between paid dumps or find a dumpster I can use weekly for one bag without getting in trouble.  Ultimately, I just decided it wasn't worth my time, but it could have saved $40-120 a year.  I like the idea that it keeps you more honest with yourself about how much trash you generate when you must be disciplined about it.  Reducing trash is always a good idea.

If you think it's worth it, go for it.  I just reviewed the waste management site and realized I can get a monthly trash pickup for $7, rather than weekly.   I didn't realize this was an option, so thanks for the reminder to check the website!

[nicoli20]

I forgot about my friends with kids dirty diapers.... yikes...

I just called our waste company and we have the option to pay per bag as well. $17 for a roll of special bags that they pick up 20 bags in a roll... so this may be an option for us as well... then we could just put out one bag when we had to.

I think I might be sold.

[Jack]

My city charges $463/year for trash pickup. It's the same price for all single-family residences (I think -- it might vary by zoning) whether you fill an entire 80-gallon bin every week or only bother to haul a part-full one out to the curb once a month (like I do). It's billed as part of my property taxes so if I tried to not pay it they'd foreclose on my house.

My only choices are to pay it or move. I think I'm going to start lobbying for a pay-as-you-throw plan...

[enigmaT120]

We just call them when our can is full and they pick it up on the normal day of the week.  It costs a little more than we would pay per week if we had regular service, but we only need it picked up about once a month.  I wouldn't want to keep the garbage around until I had a pickup load to haul to the land fill myself.

Our recycling is free but we don't even take that can down all that often.