Trash Update

There has been some issue in trying to reduce the trash down. Not everyone is willing to stop giving us things that require packaging. I know it will be hard to get rid of all of it but I think it is reasonable to say that we could do a lot better than we are doing now. We are doing better than we were when I first wrote about reducing our trash but I am not satisfied. We are still producing a bag about every 1/2 to 2 weeks and 1 container of recycling every week. I am now remembering our grocery and produce bags every time. We are also buying things with less or no packaging or in packaging that I want to reuse, like glass. My husbands mom still refuses to stop giving my children things made of plastic and candy. So I am not sure what I am going to do about that. Apparently I am not the only one with this problem, lol. It's not like I am going to give them this anyway, I don't see the point of her sending us this crap.

This is not as easy as I thought it was going to be. My husband still has to work on it as well. He is the skeptical type and this makes it hard for him to put his heart into it. I defiantly think the hardest part in convincing people in my life that it is possible and getting their full support. Most are laughing it off like it's not important and impossible.

"If you lived in America in 1960, you generated about 2.68 pounds of waste a day.

By 1970, we averaged 3.25 pounds perperson, and when the 21st Century started, we were on our way to 5 pounds per day. Each of us, on average, managed a 100% increase in 1/2 of a lifetime!

In spite of new recycling efforts, only 29% of waste was recycled in our earlier years.  By the year 2008, we were recycling about 46% of our waste.  Do the math and you’ll agree: yes, we’ve made progress since the baby boomers…BUT we have a long way to go because of the sheer increase in garbage that we generate these days." (http://thinkoutsidethebin.com/2011/06/18/landfill-statistics-and-zero-waste-america/, 2011)

Landfill are getting full and many items could have been recycled or even just not purchased. I feel like I have a responsibility to my children and my future grandchildren to help, so I am trying my hardest. I don't care what anyone has to say.