Saving money on Rubbish Bags

I was thinking about how we minimise our rubbish, and thinking that saved the planet (just a bit), but it does save money too...on rubbish bags.

We have got our rubbish down to a supermarket-sized bag each week- I'm sure we can do better as well.

When J-Man was a toddler, our council provided 240L bins for our rubbish...we never filled it, but it sickens me now to think how much garbage we tossed out each week. I only recycled obvious things, and wasn't bothered about it. We had a long driveway, and if I only had a few things in the recycling bin (about 20L)- I threw them in the rubbish bin instead of taking both bins to the roadside, or leaving them until next week. So lazy :0(

When they changed the bin size to 120L, and gave us a 240L wheelie bin for recycling (instead of a @20L tub), I thought it was crazy...I wasn't sure we could get all our rubbish in a 120L bin.

Now we have 3 children, and in a different part of Auckland- we can put out as much rubbish as we like. We have a 240L recycling wheelie-bin, which is collected fortnightly- our's is nearly always full (but this week only 3/4...hooray!).

Our neighbour's on each side will put out as many as 5 black rubbish bags (around 5 supermarket bags full) every week (and rarely a recycling bin)! Princess is horrified every time she sees it. One of these families have a couple and a baby. There will be a tonne of "disposable" nappies in their big black bags...but it is astonishing to me just how much rubbish these people can produce in one week.

Today I haven't put any rubbish out. I have less than a supermarket bag full, and none of it is smelly. I have been putting this sort of amount out each week without thought. Luckily my good friend N, made me think about that...why does it need to go out every week? It doesn't smell, why waste a bag?

So, we are recycling as much as we can, reducing a bit (and can work on that still), composting a lot, and burying any leftovers/meat scraps.

BURYING When I first heard there were people who buried their foodscraps, I wasn't sure how it could work. We have a number of stray cats around here, and the odd dog that visits our property too. We have never had a problem (we've maybe been doing this 8-12 months).

I wait until we have an icecream container (2L) full of rubbish, then take it outside. I dig a spade full of a small patch where we just have grass...it's always completely shaded. I get out as much dirt as possible, but it is maybe the size of a container in width, and about 3 containers deep. I squash the rubbish down with the spade, and refill the dirt. I put the last slab of dirt and grass neatly back in place, and step (jump) on it to make the ground look even.

I've been fairly random about where I dig in the little spot, but have still not run in to anything. I doubt that is because it has all broken down, but it seems that way.

Lastly, I rinse and scrub the container, and leave it in the sun to kill bugs, then use it again. If it starts to stink, I put some vinegar in, or ecostore dishwash.

I throw extra crusts, uneaten bread or toast, biscuits cereal to the birds- it always goes really fast, and if we are quiet- we get to see them arrive. For a few months last year we even had 3-4 ducks who came to visit each morning!

Once I stopped getting plastic bags, I didn't know what to put in our kitchen bin as a liner...but just stopped using one. Occasionally I need to scrub the bin (usually because one of the kiddos forget where to put food rubbish), but generally it is only filled with plastic packaging, so no effort is required.

I also wash any ziploc or plain plastic, or bread bags we get. The frugal mum I used to board with did this, and pegged them on the line...I thought she was silly back when I was 18- I thought she could buy them for far less time and effort. Now I do the same, and it takes no particular effort at all actually. I wash them with he dishes, rinse them and hang them out. They may take a day or two to dry, but they're not essential items, so it doesn't matter in the least.

So, our kitchen set-up is...a 1.7L container for fruit compost scraps (emptied at least every day) on top of a 2L container for meat and cooked food scraps; a kitchen bin for stuff that is definitely rubbish (I check, lol), and a bucket for stuff to go to the recycling bin outside.