But every Spring starts off with "Spring Cleaning". This time, the major kickoff event was TRASH DAY. I should explain. I don't pay for regular trash pickup, because I only generate 1 bag per month of households trash and 1 small bag of kitty litter. At $35/month for scheduled trash pickup, that's hard to accept.
So, since I regularly have stuff to bring to the recycling center (which is also the landfill), I just pay for trash weight at the same time. They have a flat fee of only $5 for all the residential trash you bring. I DO have curbside recycling, but they don't pick up boxes, bulky metal, etc. So I end up going to the landfill every few months.
Well, with the snow in Feb/March, and since I was saving winebottles since Oct thinking I might try making my own, I had a real load.
Part of it was my trash. I compost everything organic and recycle everything possible, so there isn't much per month. 1 bag. And it doesn't smell.
The stuff that DOES accumulate is kitty litter. I buy the new kitty litter in tubs and keep them for the used litter. Gaze on this and be amazed...
That's 6 months worth of used kitty litter. I bet ya haven't seen that much ever. Don't worry, the sealed bags I use prevent any smells... But still, that's a LOT of used kitty litter, LOL! 300 pounds of it!
The car itself was filled up with boxes, trash, old fluorescent tubes, unrecyclable styrofoam, etc.
I expected an easy delivery process. Thursday afternoon right after lunch. Who would be there? Well, the whole world, it seems. I forgot this was Spring Break Week and apparently a lot of adults take the week off too. The line to get IN to the dump was 15 minutes long and the line to get OUT (and pay) was 30 minutes. I ALWAYS forget that school is out this week...
And then I discovered that the $5 flat fee doesn't apply to trailers! It cost me $13 instead. Still, I can't complain much. 6 months of $35 trash pickup would have been $210! So I'm $197 ahead (minus 1 gallon of gasoline). That's a lot of steak and wine...
At least the weather was perfect. 70F, sunny, and a light breeze.
Next, Spring is really here and the gardening is underway...
5 comments:
I need you to come clean my house so I can concentrate on the yard work. We don't have the option of not paying for garbage pickup here but we regularly wind up having to take stuff to the dump that the regular garbage will not pick up. And Hubby has a burn pile (which I hate). We are also starting to compost.
ONE BAG of garbage per month??? I salute you!!! You are the recycling/composting KING!!!!
I agree with Emerson's Mom=1 bag of trash per month is incredible!...I have 2 litter lockers for the used litter in the house (2 litter boxes upstairs/2 litter boxes in the garage), but I use the empty litter containers like you for the used litter in the garage; it works well...Looks like your Spring cleaning is off to a great start!
Well, if I could compact it (not allowed), it would be one (very heavy) bag per year! I bet half my trash is those blue styrofoam mushroom containers...
A lot of kitty litter indeed! Same here for the gardening - tho' it has been colder than February was - the rhubarb is 3 feet high! Enjoy!
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