If possible, do not use garbage pick up. Check with your employer to see if you can put your garbage in their dumpster. You may even ask your church or a local business that does not fill up their dumpster to use theirs.
I recycle all our paper and newspapers at the local school recycling bin, I compost most all our food products, I return plastic garbage bags to the store, and what's left my husband takes to work and puts in their dumpster. If we are doing heavy cleaning and have a lot to throw away we give usable items to goodwill and take the rest to the local land fill.
CAUTION! Please ask before using a dumpster. Some businesses do use the full capacity, some have signs posted and it is illegal to use a dumpster without permission.
Sorry that I have not responded to the feedback left by my suggestion. My suggestion actually turned into a service project. I went to the minister at my church and discussed it. We have three ladies at our church that lived on fixed incomes. They really have to make choices between food and medicine every month. I contacted our county to be sure there is no ordinance that we are defying. We canceled their garbage pickup which saved each of them $15.00 a month.
We have the ladies children involved and have several people that signed up to be volunteers. We have provided each lady with a newpaper bin, an aluminum can bin, a earth bin for food recycling and a bin for trash. We have asked them to not put anything with financial or personal information in any of the bins. They are going to keep a bag with all that stuff to be shredded. Our church has a newspaper recycling bin, an aluminum can bin and a compost pile. Each bin has been adopted by a different group at the church.
We have not seen a drawback to any of this. Garbage pickup is not mandated in our area. These three ladies from our church get to save a little more of their money each month. Our church groups will raise a small amount of money from the recycling. Our gardeners will get free compost. Our church that is required to have a dumpster but does not fill it up each week gets to help someone who needs it. Even though most of the feedback seems to be negative I feel it has turned out to be great all around.
We are mandated by COUNTY ordinance to separate our trash to compost able, landfill and recyclable. Lists are provided, your trash will not be picked up unless rules are followed. You are billed on your utility bill. If they come to get trash that is NOT SORTED CORRECTLY, you pay an extra $4 PER BAG. All residents receiving electricity get a garbage bill ($11 monthly). All recyclable materials go in 1 container. All picked up curb side.
Spring clean up all for free pickup of all NON-trash items, but a charge for appliances, couches, mattresses, etc. Some restrictions due to hazardous waste content. All places of business who sell oil for cars/trucks must accept FREE old dirty oil for recycling. Our county in MN was the first as a pilot project to be an intense garbage sorting. Pampers ((Procter and Gamble) had part of it, this is when disposable diapers got their start into compos table materials rather than landfill components.
Taking your trash and dumping it (which is what it is when you don't follow the system of proper disposal) is against the law in most communities/states. Ever had your security and ID stolen due to your trash not being carefully taken care of? Dumpster diving into business trash is a gold mine for those who intend to steal information. I rented a dumpster for construction at my home, we ended up locking it shut due to PEOPLE DUMPING THEIR TRASH in it. I pay construction waste prices, would be charged garbage prices too. The police came and went through the trash to find names, etc to send the fines to. Yes, it is illegal. They found minors had an alcohol party and deposited a tarp wrapped around 10 liquor bottles with the party makings in it.
So please don't make your trash my problem, I wash my recycles cans, containers, bottles; tie up newspapers, shredded office materials are bagged. Have done this for 23 years. Thank you.
In our town we pay for garbage pick up. It includes our recyclables as well. I guess I don't see it as being frugal but downright cheap to take your trash to your husband's work and dispose of there. I suppose even if his work allows him to, just seems too cheap. I wonder how many times in a week your hubby is doing this? I'll bet he gets tired of hauling garbage. Our household of 4 produces quite a bit of trash in a week. My husband takes care of taking it from inside out to the garage but I know he'd draw the line at hauling it elsewhere.
It does sound like you are doing a great job of reducing your actual trash by the composting, recycling, etc.
This idea may work for you but it probably isn't a good idea for most people and no one wants to get in trouble.
Debbie52 & foxrun41...you said what I was thinking. I would never even think of dumping my trash somewhere else even if it was a business. And here we have to pay for a private company to pick up the trash. But that's part of owning a home.
Smart businesses will not risk the liability of having non customers frequent their property, taking up their parking spaces with zero profit and being a risk for slip and fall or worse. They also don't want any "dumpster divers" taking their products from the trash instead of buying them new in the store. Smart businesses also aren't paying for dumpsters that are larger than what they need.
You can save on your own garbage disposal by recycling and composting as much as possible. Then you can carefully store and package your garbage so you can make a once a week or biweekly trip to the dump.
See if there is a local drop-off center. It is cheaper than having it picked up. Here in Vermont you can hire private co. to pick it up but we prefer to drop it off at about $3.00 a bag and free recycling. And then we bring the garbage when we have the cash, not just billed automatically. It works out well because we dont have that much trash.
Because in some municipalities, garbage pickup is not paid for by your property taxes, which is how it magically gets picked up by the city when you put it out on the curb on Trash Day. In some cities you have to pay a private garbage company to come to pick up your trash.
You also want to check with your city codes. Some cities do mandate that you have garbage removal whether you use it or not.
What is the advantage of having someone else dispose of your garbage instead having garbage pick up? In my town one puts their trash at the curb and it is picked up. I fail to see how carrying one's garbage around town to locate a place to dump it is benefical.
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