How much Rubbish do you throw out ?

[antioxidantking]

This is a big problem especially in developed countries.

The amount of RUBBISH thrown out every day, do you try to reduce the amount you throw out ?

I know some simple ways to reduce rubbish .........buy the amount of food you need.

Try not to do so many take away meals.

Think about what you are buying does it need so much packaging or buy it in Bulk form.

Reduce Plastic bags at supermarkets by taking your own ECO bag or refusing plastic bags given out if they are not Biodegradable.

Ok how do you reduce your RUBBISH???? OR SUGGEST IDEAS please :o

[zararina]

I try to recycle as much as possible just like using plastic shopping bags as garbage bags. And also using containers as pots for some plants.

We also segregate those rubbish that we can sell in junk shops like plastic bottles and tin cans. And buying things that can be use for several times or longer period of time than those disposable ones.

[kat74]

Every Saturday rubbish is picked from my house by a garbage collector. Before they pick them a group of people usually go through them and collect all recycle plastics and sell them to a company which recycles them in to things like basin etc. I usually keep any container like plastic and use them to store things or plant flowers in my house.

[Leila]

In a well researched article I read by Glenn Ashton called 'Zero Waste'- he reports that 64 kilograms of waste is produced for every one kilogram of product manufactured globally. We are looking at an astronomical amount of waste!

In my family, we buy as best we can products that are not heavily packaged as I have a huge aversion to packaging...since a child. We re-use all packaging that we can for planting in, or any other function we can find for it. We try to buy food and beverages in glass packaging if we can...and we take material bags to the supermarket.

The food waste we make compost with for the garden and the very little remains that we can do nothing useful with goes into our bin - but that is actually very little, and we do our best to keep it that way!

[Hysssss-teria]

Wow -- there are some good new ideas for my household here, too.

We buy bulk foods whenever possible, avoiding packaging materials. I buy only the food I need for meal plans that I carefully prepare before shopping. We eat lots of leftovers, and I pack my husband's lunch every day. That also saves us tons of money that he doesn't spend on eating out anymore.

I reuse whatever containers I can until they wear out and just won't hold stuff anymore. I use plastic grocery bags over and over when I shop, and use them for garbage. I also use them for wrapping meats for the freezer, and use them to store bowls of leftovers in the fridge. Thus I have completely eliminated the need for plastic food wraps in this house -- which also saves money

This is a program that our community provides to support recycling efforts. We keep a separate container indoors for recyclables, and they go in a trash can separate from the garbage on collection day. The collectors weigh the recyclables and record the weight in a separate account for each apartment's recyclables can. When you've accumulated so many points with your trash weights, you can redeem them for gift cards. I'm halfway to getting one for Panera Bread ;)

[snowdoll487]

We don't have so much trash to throw out, come to think of it even if we don't throw out our trash for a week it won't be able to fill up the whole plastic shopping bag we use to segregate recyclables and non-biodegradable. Mom shop for our household needs by bulk that lasts for a week. So we don't need to go out shopping daily.

[Mystique]

I hardly buy take-aways because I prefer to dine out or cook at home. Even if I were super busy, I would make the time to take a couple of hours off, so that I can have a nice meal without having to prepare anything at home. This leaves my house clean and I don't have to throw any garbage out.

When I shop for groceries, I usually buy items that are packed in bottles/glass containers (as they are reusable). I take a big plastic container with me, as well, so that I could transfer the eggs into the container. That saves me from throwing the carton outside. I always have my green or eco bags with me when I shop too. A little action goes a long way...

[Isabellas2007]

I try to recycle as much as possible and actually get two garbage cans of recycling each week for one can of actual non-recyclable garbage. Since I can do this, I know I am able to save quite a bit. As far as the food items I buy and do not use they go to my husbands worms so they can get all fat and happy and I can get the compost from them for the garden!

[Sugarhill]

What I try to do is if there is room in my refrigerator, I'll leave cans, food scraps or take out remains in there. I wrap them up in an empty cereal box or the bags that they came in and then I'm able to limit how many times I'm sitting out a bag of trash. It usually knocks at least one day off of the three days that they pick up.

[greenman]

I have two rubbish bags collected every Thursday morning. An orange bag for recyclable waste and a black bag for non-recyclable waste. I live with 4 people, 2 bags between 4 people is quite a lot, I suppose, that's half a bag per person. We do try to buy food in its natural form with no packaging to reduce waste.

[Lacey]

I compost all of my food waste and try to reuse any canisters that I have.  Unfortunately, I still have a lot of waste that I throw out each week that is not recyclable.  It is too bad really I wish there were more things in my area for recycling and reusing products.

[Love 4 Mother Earth]

Living in the UK, I used to throw away about 2 black binbags a week (just me and my girlfriend)

Most rubbish is created by food packing at the supermarket. The packaging is getting silly. I know products will sell better in a flashy packaging, but 50 percent of my garbage is packaging. Maybe this is why there is more rubbish in developed countries. In less developed countries you just buy the stuff you need at the market, with no packaging. 

You can find a great article about this here

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/feb/17/recycling-supermarkets-packaging

[oraclemay]

I throw out daily. I can't compost because I live in a very small apartment which does not have any garden or open ground. I do try to save and recycle in other ways.