By Irene
You know nothing makes me happier than talking about trash. Pictures/diagrams to come with better internet.
1.
An ideal bin to compost in is a bin which has a
very secure lid. Compost shouldn’t smell, but alas, you want to avoid any accidental
unpleasantness. A friend of mine has a wonderful trash can – it is a circular
metallic one, with a lid which you can open with your foot. The nice thing about not having to lift the
lid with your hands is that you’re often going to be scrapping food off of your
plate, and this way you don’t have to touch anything. It might be a bit too big for your needs (my
friend lives with three other girls), so you might want to just get a smaller
bin which you can put on your kitchen counter, but then make sure that though
the lid is super secure, it’s also easy to take it off! Otherwise you’ll find
yourself putting stuff in the trash, just ‘cause it’s easier!
2.
Items that you can compost: I’m just going to
assume that your collection services are like ours in Berkeley and collect ALL
compostable materials – but, really, you should check. If your composting
services are like ours, you can put just about anything into the bin:
a.
Napkins, egg cartons, newspaper
b.
Food scraps (banana peels, egg shells, meat fat,
old lettuce, etc)
c.
Anything with a wax covering can go in, like
half and half cartons. However, if there is a plastic screw top (like for OJ or
milk) then you need to recycle that (if your collecting services accept those
types of items)
d.
Pizza boxes: should be composted, not recycled
e.
Other paper items like paper plates or paper
cups (sometimes paper cups have a wax lining, you can compost those. Pay
attention when you’re buying paper one-use items to what type of covering they
have, because sometimes it’s plastic covering, and you can’t compost that).
f.
Compostable-ware: more and more items like
silverware and to-go cups are compostable.
To-go coffee cups from places like Starbucks/Peets are compostable even
if it doesn’t say so on the cup– the lids are NOT compostable unless they
specifically say so.
g. Plastic wrapping around food: (ie if you purchase cucumbers from Trader Joe's) needs to be thrown away. The little trays on which meat usually comes from should be thrown away as well, because it's usually styrofoam.
h. The stuff you bring back from a restaurant: the food can be composted, but not the container in which you brought it back in, unless it's paper (ie the Chinese food to-go boxes can usually be composted).
Plastic bags: The bane of
everyone’s existence. You should check to see if you can put plastic bags into
your regular recycling, where you put your other plastic stuff. Often times, you
can’t. In which case, A LOT of grocery stores have plastic bag drop-off sites.
I’m not sure if Trader Joe’s does, you can ask there and some other local
grocery store. Bringing re-usable bags
to the grocery store whenever possible: it’s inevitable that you’ll have
plastic bags – I like to reuse them as much as possible if I have them, and
then drop them off at my local Safeway.
As for recycling: again, it depends
what your recycling facility can and cannot do.
This really varies from city to city.
It’s good to rinse out the sour cream container or pasta sauce jar
before putting it into the recycling. And it goes both ways: it reduces the
smell that comes from your recycling bin and might keep it cleaner longer, and
it reduces the amount of work on the other end.
Easy ways to remember stuff: if
it’s not plastic, it can usually go into the compost. Remembering what types of
plastic you can put into your recycling is a bit trickier. If you’re not sure,
it’s better to be safe and put it into the trash. I don’t have internet currently, but a simple
search that I just did can help you figure out what you can recycle: http://www.sustainablecapitolhill.org/seattle-recycling-resources.html
By the way, recycling is confusing.
I’ve spent many meetings discussing with people what they can and can’t
recycle. It’s confusing because we all come from different places, and those
places have different recycling facilities. I bet Seattle has one of the most
advanced recycling facilities, so you can probably recycle just about all of
your plastics. All plastics have a triangle somewhere on them with a number
inside the triangle. Don’t be fooled though – just because something has a triangle
on it doesn’t mean it can be recycled.
