The Garbage Reduction Challenge

Garbage trucks don't exactly scream environmental although some cities are trying to improve that. We get our garbage picked up on Thursday mornings every week. It only costs about $14 a month, which isn't much but the large garbage trucks that drive all around the city are using a ton of diesel and pouring pollutants into the air.

My challenge to myself is to reduce the amount of garbage my girlfriend and I throw away and eventually stop the garbage pick-up to our house. After all, it's only $5 to drop off your own bucket of garbage at the waste site. There are a few ways I am going to go about doing this.

Reuse packaging like tubs and jars.
Throw food wastes, paper, and cardboard into a compost pile.
Buy more bulk foods as these require less packaging.
Using the bulk foods to cook lunches and dinners for the week and freeze them.
Instead of paper towels, use a regular towel or sponge to wipe messes.
Use actual plates instead of paper plates and wipe them down with a sponge or towel if all that's left is crumbs.

These things should help immensely with our trash waste. I will be putting the garbage out tonight and will be dealing with a clean palette or rather an empty trash can. I will be detailing everything I throw away each day and give some more specific information about the things I've done.