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I completely changed how I handle food waste after a trip to the landfill

About eight months ago, I had to drop off some old broken tiles at our city's landfill. The smell from the mountain of rotting food in the open air hit me like a wall. I stood there for a minute just looking at it, thinking about my own kitchen trash bag full of banana peels and coffee grounds from that morning. That same day, I bought a simple countertop compost bin for 30 bucks. Now, all our fruit scraps, eggshells, and veggie ends go in there instead of the trash. I empty it into a pile in my backyard every couple of days. It's crazy to think I used to send all that to a stinky, methane-making mountain when it can just turn into dirt for my garden. What's a simple change you made after seeing the impact of waste firsthand?
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the_xena
the_xena18d ago
My old apartment complex had three huge dumpsters that were always overflowing, and I just tossed my trash bags in without a second thought. Seeing a documentary on how much plastic ends up in rivers totally flipped a switch for me. I started buying the big containers of yogurt instead of the little cups, and I switched to bar soap and shampoo to cut down on bottles. It feels small, but my trash can is only half full on pickup day now.
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susan_wright34
Wait, they just let you walk right up to the open landfill like that? The one near me is fenced off with huge gates, you just drive up to a window and they take your stuff. The idea of actually seeing and smelling the mountain of trash is... wow. That would mess me up too. No wonder you went straight out and got a compost bin.
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phoenix_grant34
phoenix_grant3418d agoMost Upvoted
Yeah @susan_wright34, that drive-up window sounds way less intense. What kind of stuff do they not let you throw away there?
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