Trash Disposal

Years ago the local dump was at the end of the road where you backed the pick-up tailgate over the edge of a smoggy pit, shoved the trash off, and then drove away.  Everything went in there and slowly burned or rusted away.  A bulldozer nearby made sure it was confined and neatly buried eventually and another large pit created for more trash.  It was a simple straight forward process: no sorting, no smashing down the large plastic milk bottles, and no questions asked.  Although I know it is a great want of awareness on my part; but to honest, I liked it better that way.  Nobody expected to be given money for dumping the trash...how rude is that?! Most people were glad to see you were taking responsibility for your unsightly trash by hauling it to the dump.

Now we have numbered plastic, aluminum, tin cans, glass, metal, paper, and cardboard to recycle. Maybe we just have more trash then our grandparents did.  But what's left over after a week of living as a household of six is amazing. Not to mention that huge bag of old boots and shoes that resulted from cleaning out the boot cupboard yesterday.  What to do with that?! Has anybody ever heard of recycling old shoes?

Perhaps the truest test of a woman's management skills is how she handles her household trash. If I compost the food garbage, sort the recyclables,condense the big things by smashing, and haul as often as needed instead of waiting...then what?! Never mind, it's just trash. Its the unlovely side of life and has to be done. Complaining doesn't make it nicer.  

Aunt Eva always said, "There are no free lunches."  She was right, as usual.  Now, "no free lunch" means even more to me than it used to. Somebody has to pay, even for trash disposal; we might as well pay for our own.