Recycling

[Redz]

I'm just curious.  I do my best with all of this, but I sometimes wonder why I bother when I see all of the same crap I recycle thrown into the garbage heap at the dump.

...and then I wonder what actually happens to all of the stuff I drop off in the recycle bins.

I also know different places don't recycle certain items.

I'm not being judgmental here, I'd just like to hear who does what, and if you feel like it why (or why not). 

How big of a priority is recycling in your community?

[Chris]

I never used to recycle much at home, but recently my town started charging for trash bags, so I have started recycling as much as I could.  It really is amazing to see the amount I recycle each week, and makes me realize just how much I was throwing out before that could have been recycled.

[Redz]

We tried composting for a while, but never got to the point where we actually used the stuff we were composting for plants etc...We just got the stinky, fly filled, pile of of rotten ickiness, so we stopped.

Actually, our 3 chickens now do an amazing job of using any any unused food we have. 

[Eja117]

I was juuuuuuust thinking of this today

I find it ironic that recycling bins are made of recycled stuff

I also find it inronic that some recycling bins are NOT made of recycled stuff

[Hoops]

Here in Portland (Oregon) recycling is huge. I know I'm exaggerating, but it seems like almost everyone composts. The garbage service provides a massive recycling bin and tiny (by comparison) garbage bin - you have to pay extra to get a bigger garbage can (and even that one is way smaller than the recycling bin). Without regards to the morality of recycling, it's really second nature for me to recycle (due in large part, I'm sure, to the recycle-friendly environs in which I live).

That said, I lived in Utah for a few years and they had absolutely nothing. You had to drive to a recycling center to recycle anything. It was a real pain.

[Hoops]

We tried composting for a while, but never got to the point where we actually used the stuff we were composting for plants etc...We just got the stinky, fly filled, pile of of rotten ickiness, so we stopped.

Actually, our 3 chickens now do an amazing job of using any any unused food we have. 

We have chickens too. Not only do they eat our unused (otherwise wasted) food, but their poop mixed into the compost bins makes the best fertilizer in the world!

[Redz]

I find some of the politics of what gets recycled and what doesn't interesting.  My dump stopped recycling plastic types 3-7 this past year.  I had become so used to recycling them that it made me feel gross throwing them out.

I ended up getting a recycling sticker for an adjacent town that still recycles them and now go to two dumps. 

[Redz]

We tried composting for a while, but never got to the point where we actually used the stuff we were composting for plants etc...We just got the stinky, fly filled, pile of of rotten ickiness, so we stopped.

Actually, our 3 chickens now do an amazing job of using any any unused food we have. 

We have chickens too. Not only do they eat our unused (otherwise wasted) food, but their poop mixed into the compost bins makes the best fertilizer in the world!

I hear you need to wait a year or so though (to use their poop), because it's too acidic.  Any truth to that?

[Lucky17]

Here in Portland (Oregon) recycling is huge. I know I'm exaggerating, but it seems like almost everyone composts. The garbage service provides a massive recycling bin and tiny (by comparison) garbage bin - you have to pay extra to get a bigger garbage can (and even that one is way smaller than the recycling bin). Without regards to the morality of recycling, it's really second nature for me to recycle (due in large part, I'm sure, to the recycle-friendly environs in which I live).

That said, I lived in Utah for a few years and they had absolutely nothing. You had to drive to a recycling center to recycle anything. It was a real pain.

I'm also here in PDX, and we also compost. The city sells Earth Machines for $40, so it's not at all expensive to get started. We barely generate any trash now.

Hoops, you aren't the people behind our house with the chickens, are you?

[Hoops]

We tried composting for a while, but never got to the point where we actually used the stuff we were composting for plants etc...We just got the stinky, fly filled, pile of of rotten ickiness, so we stopped.

Actually, our 3 chickens now do an amazing job of using any any unused food we have. 

We have chickens too. Not only do they eat our unused (otherwise wasted) food, but their poop mixed into the compost bins makes the best fertilizer in the world!

I hear you need to wait a year or so though (to use their poop), because it's too acidic.  Any truth to that?

Well, my wife is really the expert on this, but you're right that putting the poop directly on your plants is bad because, as you said, it's too acidic. But if you put it in your compost bin, the acidity is great for decomposing your plant waste (grass, leaves, etc.).

One thing you can do is dilute the poop by making poop soup or poop tea. Again, my wife does all the fertilizing of her roses and other plants, but apparently the poop soup/tea is like pouring gold on your plants (i.e., it's awesome).

[Redz]

We tried composting for a while, but never got to the point where we actually used the stuff we were composting for plants etc...We just got the stinky, fly filled, pile of of rotten ickiness, so we stopped.

Actually, our 3 chickens now do an amazing job of using any any unused food we have. 

We have chickens too. Not only do they eat our unused (otherwise wasted) food, but their poop mixed into the compost bins makes the best fertilizer in the world!

I hear you need to wait a year or so though (to use their poop), because it's too acidic.  Any truth to that?

Well, my wife is really the expert on this, but you're right that putting the poop directly on your plants is bad because, as you said, it's too acidic. But if you put it in your compost bin, the acidity is great for decomposing your plant waste (grass, leaves, etc.).

One thing you can do is dilute the poop by making poop soup or poop tea. Again, my wife does all the fertilizing of her roses and other plants, but apparently the poop soup/tea is like pouring gold on your plants (i.e., it's awesome).

mmmmm...poop tea 

actually heard good things about that with worm farming (also unbelievable composters)

[Hoops]

Hoops, you aren't the people behind our house with the chickens, are you?

Could be... Whereabouts do you live? If you do live near us, you'll be in for a real treat shortly - our rooster is about grown up enough to start doing his cocka-doodle-do at sunrise. But don't worry, once that starts, we'll be having chicken dinner shortly thereafter (we got chicks in the spring - they were all supposed to be hens but one of them turned out to be a rooster).

[Redz]

Hoops, you aren't the people behind our house with the chickens, are you?

Could be... Whereabouts do you live? If you do live near us, you'll be in for a real treat shortly - our rooster is about grown up enough to start doing his cocka-doodle-do at sunrise. But don't worry, once that starts, we'll be having chicken dinner shortly thereafter (we got chicks in the spring - they were all supposed to be hens but one of them turned out to be a rooster).

We don't have the rooster.

I am amazed how few people are clear on the concept of the rooster's role in the fertilization of the eggs.  Most people are amazed that we have eggs at all with no rooster!

[Lucky17]

Hoops, you aren't the people behind our house with the chickens, are you?

Could be... Whereabouts do you live? If you do live near us, you'll be in for a real treat shortly - our rooster is about grown up enough to start doing his cocka-doodle-do at sunrise. But don't worry, once that starts, we'll be having chicken dinner shortly thereafter (we got chicks in the spring - they were all supposed to be hens but one of them turned out to be a rooster).

SE, off Hawthorne.

[Hoops]

Hoops, you aren't the people behind our house with the chickens, are you?

Could be... Whereabouts do you live? If you do live near us, you'll be in for a real treat shortly - our rooster is about grown up enough to start doing his cocka-doodle-do at sunrise. But don't worry, once that starts, we'll be having chicken dinner shortly thereafter (we got chicks in the spring - they were all supposed to be hens but one of them turned out to be a rooster).

SE, off Hawthorne.

Nice - love it over there. We're in the West Slope / Sylvan area, so I'm definitely not your chicken neighbor...