Number of weeks without rolling the ol' trashcan to the curb

[Wendyimhome]

For those with curb trash pickup, I've taking a liking to seeing how many weeks I can go without the need to have the trash picked up.  I've just completed week 3.  I see this as a good thing since it reflects less consumption on my part (despite a wife who is very un-badass), and it enables the fuel sucking garbage truck to skip a stop.  The more people that do this, the less fuel burned, especially in my boneheaded city that actually pays to ship its trash 70 miles away, and the less landfill space required.

[darkelenchus]

Right on. We typically go 2 to 2 1/2 months or so before our indoor non-recycle trashcan is full. We've got to empty the recycle trashcan every 2 weeks.

[Nishtha]

That is amazing that you can go that long before having to empty your trash can, got any tips on consuming less non-renewable goods?

[Wendyimhome]

2.5 months w/o trash collection - mighty impressive.  I also like it when I have to cart the recycle can down but not the trash.  I suppose that still shows consumption going on, but at least it is of the green/renewable variety.

[Portland Man]

We only pay for once a month pickup.
The savings is minimal, but it's a neat goal.

Stinky stuff can get real stinky over the period of a month though.

(We have bi-weekly compost pickup, which we can use for meat scraps, but they don't take dog poo.)

[jpo]

We haul the trash and recycling bins to the curb about once a month. Not sure if we can pay the city less for this.

[wiferkhart]

We put trash out about every other week, full or not, because we have indoor cats.  Also, our condo complex requires that we store our trash cans inside the garage - yuck : (

[Melissa]

When you do take out the trash, how much do you actually put out?

I take ours down every week but many time it is only one 13 gallon kitchen trash bag.  We take our recycling to the bins at our local fire department.  We don't have any "curbside" recycling in our rural area, so I try to coordinate that with other errands.

It makes me sad to watch our neighbors (household of 2) haul out two large trashbags each week.  Makes me wonder if they ever cook. 

[FI@2022Jem]

ha! I thought we were the only people who did this!
We already have the smallest garbage pick up option (every week but the smallest can)
We only put it out every few weeks for odor reasons but probably only fill the can once a month. 

[darkelenchus]

That is amazing that you can go that long before having to empty your trash can, got any tips on consuming less non-renewable goods?

For non-perishable items or items with long shelf life, buy in bulk when you can and avoid individual packaging of units inside the bulk packaging. Don't buy fruits and veggies that are shrink wrapped. Reuse and repurpose whatever containers you can. Compost kitchen scraps. Break down packaging with multiple materials whenever possible so that they can be recycled. Consume less, overall. Ask to be taken off the junkmail weekly periodical list (unless you use the coupons).

The more people you live with, the more you'll be hauling the trashcan to the curb. Our household has 2 adults. We use a 13 gallon trashcan and a 13 gallon recycle can.

[kkbmustang]

For tips on how to reduce your waste, go here: zerowastehome.blogspot.com 

This family (2 adults, 2 kids) can fit their trash for six months in one wine glass. Truly inspirational.

[happy]

We put out weekly, but usually only 1/3rd or 1/4 full. Recycling has also redcued...since we stopped buying lots of packaged up new stuff...maybe once every 2-4 weeks