I’m a long-time recycler and an avid composter. \u00a0Even before our city introduced a green bin program, Dan and I had one in our backyard.<\/p>\n
Over the winter though, we got lazy. \u00a0It’s easier to just toss everything out in the trash than to cart it out to the green bin or the blue box. \u00a0Not surprisingly though, the amount of garbage being hauled out to the curb was ever increasing. \u00a0Our two bags\/week turned into 4 or even 5 on the worst weeks.<\/p>\n
So in early summer, Dan and I decided t try something novel: to actually use the bins as they were meant to be used and not just when we felt like it or when it was easy. \u00a0And the timing couldn’t be better. \u00a0Rumour has it that they are changing to bi-monthly garbage collection in our area this fall. \u00a0\ud83d\ude10<\/p>\n
THE GOOD:<\/p>\n
Our little experiment has shown us just how much we can save from going in the landfill by recycling what we can, and composing almost everything. \u00a0It’s actually kind of ridiculous what you are allowed to out in the green bin\u2026cat litter, bacon grease, floor sweepings, wooden popsicle sticks, cardboard, feathers and pet hair\u2026. And thanks to all that, and more, our 4 bags have gone down to 2\/week. \u00a0And that includes diapers.<\/p>\n
THE BAD:<\/p>\n
It does take extra time. \u00a0It is easier to pop everything in the garbage.<\/p>\n
THE UGLY:<\/p>\n
The ugly is oh, so ugly. \u00a0The use of these green bins has quadrupled x 1000 the number of flies hanging around. \u00a0Some days I feel as though all of them have congregated in my kitchen. \u00a0The buzzing drives me right around the bend. \u00a0It sounds exactly like a scene in the movie when they are about to discover the dead body…<\/p>\n
But it’s not just the flies. \u00a0It’s the maggots. \u00a0*gag* \u00a0and the freaking HUGE spiders that are only too happy to set up shop to catch the flies and maggots. *gag*<\/p>\n
Oh, and the smell. \u00a0On garbage day with all the green bins open at curb-side, you basically have to hold your breath as you sprint to the car or you may actually gag.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So there you have it. \u00a0The good definitely outweighs the bad and the ugly, in our house anyway. \u00a0And in a few months the insects will be gone again until spring, so what’s grossest about the green bins (to me) fades away in the colder months.<\/p>\n
At least there’s that to look forward to as summer starts draws to a close. \u00a0And that may be the only thing\u2026 \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m a long-time recycler and an avid composter. \u00a0Even before our city introduced a green bin program, Dan and I had one in our backyard. Over the winter though, we got lazy. \u00a0It’s easier to just toss everything out in the trash than to cart it out to the green bin or the blue box. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[40,55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6021"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6021"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6025,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6021\/revisions\/6025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/forgetful.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}