Saturday, May 31, 2014

This New Trash Can is Kind of Making Me Feel Inadequate

For the last several years, all of the waste management customers in the area get three barrels - one for green/garden waste, one for recycling, and one for all other trash.  This separation of trash has lessened the amount of regular trash most people have.  So when the company started advertising their new, smaller bins last year I was intrigued.  But at the time they were unavailable in my area.  More recently though I have started to see more and more small ones while out on walks.  Over spring break I called the waste management company and this time was able to order a replacement. It took quite awhile to get the new bin, but it finally arrived this past week.  On trash day the big blue one was switched out with this little one.  It looks identical just about half a size smaller.
 With the exception of the green waste bin that fills up occasionally, I've never once filled up one of these barrels let alone all three of them.  So saving a little money on a smaller bin for trash makes good sense.
I don't know, I might feel better about it if the other two bins were also reduced in size, but instead the little blue barrel sits there, taunting me, so teeny tiny looking ridiculous next to the other two.

6 comments:

  1. Yeah, we had ones you could hide a horse inside.
    Made ya feel ya were single handedly destroying the ozone layer.
    I now have a Jessy who pulverises bones of beef chicken and lamb and a compost heap that allows me to plant summer plants for virtually free for the stuff she doesn't eat. But I still have a bag of dry recyclables every two weeks. Still 25 bags at .75c at the recycling centre is far better than €400 to have them pick the stuff up, especially as I'm going that way anyway.

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    1. Right?!? I understand the large size originally before the separate barrels. But now with 3 barrels, do we need them to be THAT big.
      I know a few households that compost. I like the idea, but since I'm not good with the whole plant thing I figured it would be wasted on me. I'd imagine being a plant guy, it works really well for you.
      We have a nearby dump, but it costs quite a bit to take a load there. Our pick up service is subsidized by the city so it's rather inexpensive - I pay about $17 a month, and it'll be less now with the smaller barrel. When my parents moved to Hawaii they were shell shocked a bit by the cost of trash pick up (having come from here) and found the dump to be free. So even now with my dad gone, my mom schleps a bag or two to the dump about once a week.

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  2. OMG I have to send you a picture of my trash can!! We have the mammoth recycle and green waste bin- both of those are usually filled each week...and although we have minimal trash, dog poop, a ramin wrapper, lettuce bag, etc, there is a time when I need to toss and old bucket, a picture frame or some other item that cannot be recycled and it doesn't fit! The engineers who designed the trash bin so it could be picked up by the arm on the truck assumed that all household trash would be less than 10" in size. Often trash gets stuck in the bottom when emptied and I have to call to have them come by and get what is stuck in the bottom. I do take pride in being green but this bin is ridiculous...yours looks more square. Our trash is also incredibly expensive here.

    Happy Sunday! 18 more days of school here :)

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    1. 10 days here (two of them half days). I'm trying to get over strep throat and have spent the last 3 days in bed...but at least I got all my report cards done. I found out on Thursday that I have to pack up most of my classroom due to renovations - I'm thrilled about the work being done but not so much about having to pack, ugh! I predict the next two weeks will be a lot of projects and movies that keep the kids occupied so I can pack.
      Yah, our cans are an odd shape too, narrower at the bottom than the top. There have been times when I couldn't get something to fit and/or it got stuck. I've never called anyone to get it out, but I have crawled inside one a time or two. :)

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  3. I don't know what type of material you have to compost so I cannot really advise. But I expect if you have the space a local garden centre would be happy to give you tips.
    You'd be surprised at the lack of any smell from them once they are up and going. You'd think they would be like a can inside, but no, the bacteria reacts in a different way.
    Why would Hawaii be more costly. Is it that to snowbirds are seen as a rich target. You'd think it would be cheaper, especially given the cost of living in your town. Are local taxes vastly less on the islands to compensate.

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    1. Everything is more expensive in Hawaii, everything except for pineapple and macadamia nuts (which are still pricey, just not as much as here). The cost of living is quite high there as well because pretty much everything, except for fruit, nuts, and Kona coffee, has to be shipped in. And all the services like gardeners or home/car repair are quite a bit higher than here, which is saying something. I'm not sure why services would be more other than lack of competition or maybe due to costs of goods, their costs are high too. They don't even benefit from using online shopping with free shipping like Amazon because most of the stores only have shipping in the contiguous US. The costs of shipping to HI is much more. They do pay about half of what we do in taxes - we're almost at 10% sales and HI is 4ish%.
      But I think waste management is more a city or county thing rather than state or national. Everyone seems to do it a bit differently.

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