I’ve heard of it happening to other parents and particularly grandparents. Great social thinkers have considered it. But, for me, it was the first time to think, “What kind of world am I leaving to my kids?”

Funny How this Came Up

You’d think this concept would have come up during some deep, meditative moment when thinking of my family and the greater good. This is reality, though, and stuff comes up at the weirdest moments. In this case, it was when I was gathering the trash to take it out to the bins.

We’re a family of four right now. Four people’s not really a lot, especially when two of them are under five. Looking at how much trash I was pulling out of our trash cans, and in turn filling up the bin, made me realize that we generate a lot of trash, though.

To Give Perspective

Now, we don’t have the biggest bin you can get from the trash company, but it’s not the “I just have enough to fill a grocery bag” size either. So, overall, we’re not generating the most or the least trash on our street.

The whole “legacy for my kids” thing, though–that came up because I looked at our trash bin, then looked up and down our street at all the other homes putting out (big and small) trash bins. If you multiply how much we’re putting out by all those homes, let alone a city, and then think “Where the @!$# does all this go? Are my kids going to end up living on these garbage heaps later?”–well, that’s a bit of a wake-up call.

Sanity Check First

OK, before I could get too wound around the axle, how much trash do people generate per year? In Oregon, per this report (in PDF), we generated 1,549 pounds of trash per capita in 2017. Yes, that’s 1,549 pounds per person. The total of amount of waste was 5.5 million tons, with 2.3 million tons of that being recovered (e.g., for recycling, etc.).

How about the U.S. in total? From the EPA’s 2015 numbers here, we Americans generate 262.4 million tons of waste–which, as they so kindly point out, means each person is throwing out 4.48 pounds of stuff per day. The total of that recycled or composted was 67.8 million tons.

The interesting thing is that, if you read through those links, these numbers are comparatively good. That is, they aren’t even our peak trash generation. Well, at least that’s some positive news. But still . . . that’s a lot of waste, and it all does pile up somewhere (in landfills in the U.S. or another country). And do I want my kids to have to live on or around that? Would you want to live in the midst of it?

Let’s go with, “No”.

Starting at Home

Even though this really is a nationwide problem (just focusing on the U.S. here), the idea came up at home, and that’s the best place to start fixing it. After all, this whole article is because I realized how much trash we make.

Our Bins

We get three bins where we live: A recycling bin (with a side tote for glass), a trash bin, and a yard waste bin. The yard waste bin we fill up and sometimes overfill will all the things that grow here in Oregon (and grow, and grow). That one doesn’t really count as a waste problem as it should be able to be reused for compost, mulch, etc.

The Recycling Bin

Recycling generally shouldn’t count as waste, either. I mean, it’s recycled, not thrown away. But here’s the ugly truth: Not all that goes into recycling will end up getting recycled because sometimes it gets contaminated with other things. You have 100 houses putting out recycling and sure, some trash can slip in and not be caught at the recycling center; that could ruin the whole load.

The bigger point is: It would be better if you had less to put in the recycling bin anyways. That’s the old “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” concept. Buy economy size bottles instead of several little ones if you actually need that much. Say “no” to extra containers when they’re not needed. It’s less to carry home, less to clean out, and less in the bin.

I feel we do fairly well at recycling correctly, which is partly because I’m like an anal-retentive bin policeman. There’s a sharp eye on what is making its way in there versus what should be in the trash, and vice versa. We could do better at the “Reduce” part, but most of the recycling is from food staples. As not eating isn’t a viable option, I’m not sure how much we actually could reduce the recycling.

The Trash Bin

Our biggest problem area is the trash bin. There are several things we generate as a result of being parents of little ones. Disposable diapers are the biggest thing; they take about 1/4 of our bin up. We’d greatly prefer cloth diapers, but had to give up on them due to skin sensitivity issues. We can, however, work on potty training as quickly as possible to cut down on that waste.

Paper towels are also another big part of our trash right now–and yes, we know it’d be far better to use real towels. But once you realize that kids under five are incredible mess-makers, and you’d end up doing a whole load of real towels everyday anyways, paper towels are AMAZING. And worth the extra trash load.

Another big trash item, and a sensitive one for those of us in the rainy Pacific Northwest, is disposable coffee/cocoa/drink cups. A warm drink is good comfort, but I do hate having to get a stupid disposable cup every time. Something we can work on, then, is seeing if our favorite places will let us bring our own cups.

What We Keep Out Already

Just so it doesn’t sound like we’re throwing everything away, we are doing really good at a couple things. Take-out food containers have been one item we’re now putting in the trash less. The point where we went to a nationwide chain restaurant to get takeout and they gave us containers that would have fit our meals two or three times over–that was our line in the sand, because what a frigging waste. Now we make eating out special and eat at the restaurant (usually), and act like people who know how to use real plates and silverware.

We also aren’t buying things that we don’t need. In turn, we then (usually) don’t throw away things until they are no longer capable of serving their purpose. This has greatly reduced the amount of things that go in the trash. Which then lets us keep the medium-sized (cheaper) trash bin for pickup instead of the large (more expensive) one. Score one for savings!

Is This Enough?

With those few things that we could improve on, is that really enough to make a change in our nationwide trash problem? Of course not, if it’s just us doing it. But if everybody takes a step, not to be perfect but to be a little bit better, we’re going to make a huge dent in our trash production.

Which might help leave our kids a decent world after all.

Been dealing with your own attempts to reduce your trash load? Share your successes and failures in the comments. Suggestions are welcome too–we’re all in this together.