I have often wondered if there is a way to recycle things like bread bags or other plastic wrapping from food items. I don't think they can go in with the grocery bags. I know, I should make my own bread, and I do that, but I'm not yet good at english muffins.:-) Also the plastic wrapping from meats, and that sort of thing. It seems like we should be able to get our trash down to just about nothing, especially during woodstove season.

I would appreciate any ideas to further reduce/recycle.

I know larger families will generate more garbage, but thats a whole other discussion.....

I try to look at packaging, but sometimes there isn't a choice. I frequently decline a bag in the store, if there is no real need for one. I *should* take my canvas bags to the grocery, but I never remember. I do compost to some extent, but we generate very little of that stuff. I keep veggie scraps to make stock, so by the time they're cooked up, there isn't much to compost. I guess overall we do pretty well, just gotta keep trying.

Bill

Is the scrap material you are burnig solid wood or pressed wood, plywood, etc.? You shouldn't burn any pressed wood product, primarily because of the formaldehyde. I did a quick google search for more info on this and will post one of the hits. The very end of the document has the cautionary statement. Otherwise, a more general search on formaldehyde should give you more info.

Here in the Twin Cities, many grocery stores have a collection point for clean plastic bags; they're recycled into lawn furniture and the like. My mom uses her bread bags to pick up after the dog; I've used clean bags to wrap lunches, double-wrap food for the freezer, hold loose objects for storage (most bags I buy are clear, so I can see what's inside), etc. Maybe you could find someone with a dog who'd be happy to have more bags? I'm not above rinsing out a bag before it gets recycled, either, but I'm aware that the hot water I'm using has to come from somewhere and that it's too easy to take the recycling too far.

Other things like yogurt cups can be recycled.
Check your local recyclers. Here in Ramsey County you can recycle only #1 and #2 plastics, and some recycling companies are sticklers about the "must have a neck" rule. My argument is that if it has a screwtop or fliptop, it must have a neck, even if it's a stout neck like a peanut butter jar. If #2 with a neck is a different plastic than #2 without a neck, then they need a different number. :-)

Some stores, Whole Foods for sure, sell meat wrapped in butcher paper so you can avoid plastic by getting it freshly wrapped in paper.

But that paper should not be recycled, either. Some of it is wax-coated; some of it has plasticizers; all of it has food residue, which should not be added to otherwise-dry materials for recycling.

No, we don't much burn plywood, perhaps an occasional scrap. Mostly scraps from my husband's wood shop, or pieces of household baseboard trims and moldings. We never burn treated lumber, yep we know better ;). We also burn a fair bit of actual firewood, most all of which we have cut and collected ourselves, so we know it doesn't contain artificial ingredients. :)

Between recycling and composting, we are down to one kitchen bag of garbage per week (sometimes three bags every two weeks) for a family of four. My neighbors across the street, a family of five, regularly puts out two or three *cans* a week - don't know how many bags in each can.

aok, if you throw your canvas bags in the car as soon as you empty them, they'll always be there when you stop in at the store - of course, if you are like me, you will remember at the checkout that you left them in the car, and then you have to be very quick to tell the cashier you want paper before they grab the plastic.

I wish our recycling took more stuff. They only take #1 & #2 plastics, no plastic bags (even #2 - supposedly they get caught in the machines - which makes me wonder how they are recycled when you return them to the grocery store bin). The city has recently started taking corrugated cardboard, which is good, and junk mail, most of which I shred to compost anyway.

Similar to the bread bags are the newspaper bags. I start my day off every morning going out at 5:30AM and picking up the paper from the driveway, grumbling that it's in a plastic bag even in dry weather, and then coming in the house wondering how I can dispose of the bag other than throwing it away. I tried saving them once to give back to the delivery person, but I've never once seen him/her(??) in over five years...

I hear ya on the in-laws. My in-laws say the same thing - "too much trouble". Sheesh...

Happy to see this forum. I'm hoping to pick up a lot of ideas!

Dee

OK, here's another one for suggestions: what about those big chunks of hard styrofoam that you get when you buy a small appliance or a computer?

Doggone it, I had another one, but I've forgotten. It'll come to me and I'll be back.

BTW, ours doesn't require glass to be separated. I wonder what they do with that?

In looking through that link, I was intrigued by how many different things could "contaminate" the process. I was never aware of that. Now I wonder that programs never asked us to remove labels from cans and especially jars.

We have a local "garbage museum" that my kids have visited several times on school trips. Maybe I should make a visit and learn more about the process!

:)
Dee

so the only stuff that ends up in the trash bin is plastic wrap and styrofoam material, so our bin doesn't weigh much and it is hardly ever over 1/2 full.

len

The bottles with necks only rule is because those products contained liquids, any remains of which are easily washed away during processing, while jars contained all kinds of sticky messy things that present a cleaning problem. We have a similar rule with plastics, we can recycle the bottles but not the tubs.

We could recycle a lot more if they were certain the waste would be relatively clean, but unfortunately, a lot of people don't bother to clean things before recycling them.

Dee

the lesser use is as "cullet" for inclusion [in small percentages] in the glass container making process - that's why originally they wanted seperated colors, because only clear can be used in making new clear, clear or green in making green, any color in making brown ... unfortunately the percentage they can use is small and an immense amount of container glass comes from overseas

Bill

As squeeze points out, labels on jars are immaterial to their recycled use. Labels on cans also are immaterial because the heat needed to reclaim them pretty much does in any paper or glue remaining on the metal.

The bottles with necks only rule is because those products contained liquids, any remains of which are easily washed away during processing, while jars contained all kinds of sticky messy things that present a cleaning problem.

You'd think they'd be using some industrial solvent that wouldn't be fazed by peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, or bean starch. *sigh*

Bill

Neat idea if your a crafty person