Moving, MRF's and Multi-family

I'm back! After my trashiest summer yet, I am ready to dive back into the world of blogging and trash-u-cation!

So where have I been? and what have I been doing? Glad you asked faithful readers...

I learned! I networked! I read! I watched! And...

I moved! It was the least exciting thing I did but has proved to be the most trash-u-cational...

Moving is hard, everyone knows that. Doing it while also keeping your waste in check is actually a lot easier then I thought it would be. I snagged some boxes from work, packed a lot of my breakables in my linens to cut down on packaging, got a new counter top compost bin and have gotten all of my furniture from thrift stores, craigslist and curbside, which I am mighty proud of and so would Macklemore.

But it wasn't until I was ready to bring my moving boxes down to the recycling bin that I realized the most disheartening thing about my new home: my building DOESN'T HAVE A RECYCLING BIN. I was shocked to learn that the single dumpster is the only receptacle available to me and the 16 other units in my building. Our private waste hauler won't name names but it's shares a name with a city in Greece...brings all of our waste to a "Dirty" Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where they hand sort out the trash from the recyclables.

...Wait, to a what and a who now? A MRF (rhymes with smurf) is where recyclables (and sometimes trash) are sent to be hand sorted by laborers. Most MRF's only accept single stream recyclables (paper, glass, cans, plastic all in one bin) and have a good system for sorting and recovering recyclables. Although jury is still out on if single stream recycling is the ultimate solution. Here's a nifty video to explain what a MRF is:

MRF's that also accept trash in addition to recycling, "Dirty MRF's," as they're referred to in the biz, are not nearly as efficient as the MRF in the video. It is much harder to separate trash from the recycling without having a contaminated recycling stream. What they do recover is often low quality and not valuable on the recycling market.

I was devastated. I was going to become a Dirty MRF-er. The idea of throwing away my food scraps and recyclables into a dumpster was so overwhelming that the recycling in my apartment took over the entire dinning area. Boyfriend was not pleased...

But then the week after we moved in I noticed an extraordinary site...I feel a #TrashGirlSolution coming on...I now live next to a fire house yea, didn't realize that when we signed the lease who does put out their blue recycling bins and green lawn bins each week.

It's a trash Rainbow! 

So I've been sneaking all the recycling and compost into their bins. The first time I did it, I didn't realize what day they put them out, so I was 20 minutes late to work because I ran 4 trips of recycling and 1 trip of compost down to the bins one morning...I know. It's a bit much. 

I know that most people and all of the folks in my building will not have the commitment or motivation to recycle and compost like I do. I'm working on a proposal to bring to my landlord to get rid of the dumpster and get a more sustainable solution to the residents of my new home. Multi-family recycling (residents with more than 4 units) in Los Angeles have to sign up for recycling services from the city but it's free so I think he'll go for it. I'm hoping a good ole' grass root effort will purge at least this complex of its addiction to the dumpster. Stay tuned...

Knowing where your trash goes is important. Communities and municipalities that have curbside recycling programs work better and recycle more than communities who don't. They not only are more cost effective but promote more consumer buy in and get people thinking about their waste. Know what services are available to you so you can conveniently recycle, compost and reduce your landfill trash. Or, check out the trash bin rainbow at your local firehouse.  

***

Open letter to the fire station next door:
Dear Fire House,
The thought of throwing away recyclables and compost-able organics in my apartment complex's dumpster makes me hyperventilate. Thank you for being so diligent about your recycling and yard waste and providing my refuse with a refuge. And not catching me using your bins yet..or ever..or if you do catch me letting me continue using your bins because it's adorable how obsessed I am with trash and I care too much for you to not let me do it. And, as invested as we both are in our civic duty you will relate to me on some level. I hope. Please. Thank you. 
Sincerely,
Your neighborhood Trash Girl

***

#DownWithDirtyMRFs !

Shake, Fold!

If you haven't discovered TED talks yet... what internet rock have you been under... here is a short introduction into the wonderful world of TED...

I've chatted about paper towel waste before but this video so perfectly explains the most environmentally sound way to dry your hands that Trashers from all walks of life have to bare witness! And let's be honest, this old man is adorable... 

Joe Smith is described as a "powerful paper towel advocate" on his TED Bio page. According to Smith we currently use 13 billion pounds of paper towels each year. If we reduce our paper towel use by one paper towel, per person, per day we would decrease that number to 571,230,000 lbs per year. Numbers make everything so legitimate. Which is an incredible amount towards decreasing trees being cut down to make paper towels and the amount of landfill space towel waste takes up!

I'm still in the "no paper towels. period." camp, but it's nice to know when hand dryers ...or my pant legs... aren't an option, that this now exists as a #TrashGirlSolution in my trash-less brain. Dorky trash puns, I could go all day. 

Lesson of the day: Shake, Fold folks! Shake and Fold.

#TrashGirlSolution

Under the cover of darkness and quiet of night, I dropped my first load of compost! 

Being able to compost to is important to me. According to an EPA study done in 2012 (most recent data available) 7.4% of household waste is food scraps... seems a little low to me... Combine that with commercial garbage and 20% of whats ending up in landfills is food waste. Composting is such an easy way to decrease my overall contribution to landfills and it really makes a difference in how much I'm persoanlly throwing "away." Also explaining to my roommate why there's egg shells and carrot peelings in the freezer  makes me feel wicked trashy. Food scraps have the ability to have a whole other life! I can't be so heartless as to deprive them of their decomposing potential!

Cool graphic EPA...

In Los Angeles county every household has blue (recycling) black (landfill) and green (yard waste) bins. So, after some hard digging (that involved reading the label on the bin), I found out that fruit and vegetable waste is also acceptable in the green bin! Hallelujah! Make room in the freezer for ma compost! 

Don't be fooled by the "Yard Waste Only" 

It's a lie! Read the sticker!

In NYC I had to bring my compost to the farmers market once a week. I would freeze it so that it wouldn't smell. I'm doing the same in LA. Roommates would definitely not be down with the stank. 

NYC composting...

All the cans go out once a week so I just drop the compost in the bin and off it goes...

First round of LA compost in the bag! I mean..bin. 

I haven't graduated to my own compost bin yet. One, because I had a pretty scarring experience in college when a MASSIVE fruit fly infestation took over my apartment for an entire summer. Two, I don't have a garden to use the luxurious soil created from the compost! So until I'm ready to plunge into household composting, a more commercial way of composting is my best option.

Thanks for being awesome LA!

Let the LA compost extravaganza begin!! 

**Do you have an organization that collects food scraps in your hometown? Does your town allow food scraps in yard waste? Try asking farmers at your farmers market if they collect household food waste for their farms! Go on! Send your food scraps off to live out their life!