Garbage

Really, how much garbage can one family produce? Plenty, it seems. Each bedroom and bathroom contains a garbage can, and it's usually emptied twice a week. We were in the habit of using grocery bags as garbage bags, but when the volume of garbage increased, we switched to regular garbage bags. Before we renovated the kitchen, we had a space-saving container installed under kitchen sink. After the renovation, we graduated to a small stainless pail, and last year, I insisted that we get a larger garbage can to accommodate the mess!

We keep the cardboard and paper recycling in a corner of the half-bath, and sometimes it overflows. I also have a recycling bin at my desk, along with a garbage pail. My son's class is now collecting recycled boxes and plastic bottles for their invention box; they invent sculptures from the materials and tape everything together. Last year, kindergarten class did the same thing and for months, we gathered about 20 sculptures, which took over the apartment. The only sensible solution was to take a photo of each item before...recycling each one. I'll add the photos to my photo album. The same goes for all of the artwork. There's simply no place to keep it all.

The city picks up garbage on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, and we try to schedule our garbage removal from the apartment accordingly. However, nearly every morning, I send the kids down the stairs with a bag or two, usually kitchen garbage and recycling. We are zoned for intense recycling, which means we separate paper from glass and plastic and if we don't do it properly, our building can be fined.