Spotted my kitchen waste bin was half food scraps and it bugged me for weeks

I was standing in my apartment kitchen in Denver last Saturday staring at my trash can after taking out the bag. Turns out about 60% of what I throw away is banana peels, egg shells, and carrot tops that could just go in a compost heap. I ended up buying a little countertop bin from the hardware store and signed up for a local compost pickup service that costs $15 a month. Has anyone else had that moment where you realize how much of your garbage doesn't actually need to be garbage?

2 comments

2 Comments

chen.casey28d ago

That 60% figure is pretty eye opening. I had a similar reckoning when I started weighing my trash out of curiosity. It turns out my coffee grounds alone were adding up fast. The countertop bin is a game changer though. I found that keeping the scraps visible and handy made it way easier to actually use the compost service instead of just tossing stuff in the regular can. Plus the pickup service takes meat and dairy scraps too which my backyard pile couldn't handle, so it really cuts down on what goes to the landfill.

anderson.david27d ago

And my roommate keeps throwing compostable stuff in the regular trash even after I explained it to him like three times.