Camp Verde Refuse Transit Station - A trip to the dump

I felt both hopeful and appalled by a visit yesterday to my local Refuse Transit Station, the place where trash waits to be brought to its final resting place in an Arizona landfill.

Basically, I wanted to see what people throw away.

I try to recycle, compost and donate everything possible. My personal goal is No Net Trash. An unrealistic standard to be true: even native cultures had midden heaps. I figure with a high standard for myself, the end results should be pretty good. I felt inspired to see what ends up going to the landfill in my community.

First I spoke to the employee taking in the trash. I asked him where this stuff goes (to the landfill). I asked if anything gets recycled (some things yes, some no). I asked if people could come to the transit station and buy/bring useful salvage home (the answer is a firm no).

Okay. I looked around the various heaps. A hill of tires gets recycled into components of asphalt. Car batteries and motor oil are recycled. Scrap metal is sold to junk recyclers.  All good so far.

Sad limp mattresses piled high to the sky: landfill-bound. Pallets and carpets and construction debris - landfill.  Household castoffs - landfill. And a HUGE mountain range of landscape waste - sadly, all to be buried in a landfill.

When I asked why the county doesn’t mulch the green waste, the employee told me that was a really good question and to ask the county supervisor. When I asked about salvage of usable items he repeated his request. I thought that was a pretty good answer, actually. He gave me a list of prices, of what the costs are for bringing our trash to the transit station, so I could be armed with the facts if I ever followed through to speak with the county.

Then I wandered over to the metal heap to actually eyeball what gets tossed. It was interesting and enlightening. This small mountain contained many useful items that could have been brought to a thrift store. While a large bulk of items were large appliances like fridges, stoves, dishwashers and laundry machines, I also saw nice bicycles, a ton of outdoor lounge chairs in great shape, perfectly fine upscale baby strollers, outdoor BBQs, folding camping chairs, metal shelving and wheel barrows.

Some of these things needed a small amount of fixing to be usable, like the bicycles. And some were in great shape and ready for another lifetime of use.

Since this pile was the metal heap, slated for recycling, I couldn’t feel too sad about all these useful items: at least they were not destined for the landfill. Their metal parts would be stripped and recycled.

And I was pleased the tires were to be chipped and reused by the county in our roads.  A local resident told me this was a new thing - that only in the last year were tires diverted from the landfill. So a very positive step.

Yet the green wastes really bothered me. I’ve lived in cities that mulch up their yard waste and let people take the nutritious bits for their gardens and landscaping needs. In the high desert, tossing such a source of ground nutrients into aerobically dead landfills is more than a waste. It’s almost a sin.

The useable, salvageable goods are another missed opportunity. Why not let people buy some of these things? We live in a horribly depressed area of the West. There are some very nice items that don’t belong in a landfill. Why not set usables aside for possible purchase? Or arrange for a tax break by letting charitable thrift stores pick them up each week?

It’s probably a matter of looking into the system. Of talking to the county and seeing if there are plans for these kinds of enlightened changes. Maybe such changes are already coming down the pike? Or maybe I can influence my local government into creating a committee, a long term plan, for diverting non-waste from landfills?

Filed under Frugal Living, Self-Reliance, green living | Comment (0)

How do you feel about Dumpster Diving ?

I just read a wonderful book on essays from people who do extreme recycling and dumpster diving.

So here is my question: have you ever taken anything out of a dumpster? How would you feel if you got ‘caught’?

I will start: sometimes I grab recyclables from dumpsters and recycle them. Like if a ton of cardboard boxes are in there, or a bag of cans. Usually there is a recycling bin right there and all I have to do is take a second to move things a bit.

Sometimes I see actual goodies in there, which makes me feel confused. Like once I saw FOUR whole unopened bags of Wee Wee pads. Those things, for dogs, are not cheap. I looked around to see if anyone saw me and reached in and grabbed two of them. I figured I would grab the other two as I walked by next time, since i needed a stick to grab those.

Unfortunately, when I came back the other two bags were totally buried by a whole dump load of landscape waste. I still feel badly about this. If I had not let me pride get ahead of me I would have had two more bags of expensive wee wee pads, and also kept something useful out of the waste stream.

It is much easier to take things when people kindly leave them outside the dumpster (like RV lawn chairs - I have gotten about six really nice ones that way and many other useful things). But I feel embarrassed to actually reach in and root around.

I don’t want to have to feel that way. I want to feel pleased to be helping the planet. Yet there is a stigma.

What do others do when you see nice things in and around dumpsters?

Filed under Frugal Living, Self-Reliance, green living | Comments (15)

Saving Money by Eliminating Budget Items

Are there things you pay for each month that are not actually necessary? Depending on how frugal you need to be, there are plenty of things that can be worked around.

For example, having a land lone phone isn’t as important as it was not long ago. DH and I get along pretty well with cell phones. And we are staring to think that even cell phones are not crucial, since Skype is so cheap.

We don’t have cable for TV since we can watch just about everything online. We download older series’ and we use hulu mostly for new programs.

We don’t pay for trash service; I take care of recycling on my own, compost what i can, reduce my waste as much as possible, and trash what is left in various dumpsters or in friend’s trash bins. This saves us $18 a month, which does add up. It makes me feel happy to be more self-reliant, and it’s a fun game to see how little waste my household can produce.

We’ve changed over all our regular, wasteful lightbulbs to compact florescent bulbs from the dollar store. This will save us hundreds of dollars each year on our electric bills! I’m not off the grid yet, but someday I dream we will power our home completely from solar sources.

We buy used for most of our clothes, shoes, outdoor gear, gardening tools, home decor and books. There are thrift stores, garage sales, craigslist, ebay, etc.

We work out at home and outside rather than having a gym membership, using home equipment, walking and hiking shoes, yoga mats, fitness DVS and a pullup bar. (no, i can’t do a pullup, but dan can. I just hang from it)

Since we work at home, we really only use the one car. We’ve lived in many places where we only have one vehicle, halving all kinds of associated fees.

What ways do others find to keep their budget items low and eliminate costs entirely?

Filed under Family Life, Frugal Living, Organization, Self-Reliance | Comments (2)

Do You Use Coupons?

Do you collect coupons, scour ads, print out online coupons, send in rebates, or avidly read your ValPack/Pennysaver circulars for ads? Do you buy and use entertainment books full of local coupons?

Do you find you actually use coupons, or forget about them until they expire? Is the time spend collecting and organizing worthwhile?

For me:

Each time I get an entertainment book I realize it’s been a waste of money for me. I never use anything in them, for some reason.

Coupon that show up in the mail I am pretty good at using. Right now I have one in front of me for getting a $5 item free at my thrift store for bringing in an unwanted Elephant Gift.

I also hand the fast food coupons to Dan, so he can grab food when he spends the day at cinemas getting PeeTimes for RunPee.com. He really appreciates those.

I have a stack of coupons for $2 pints of locally brewed beer at the Oak Creek Brewing Company in Sedona. I use those with my friend Chris regularly. I pulled them from the coupon pages in my phone book.

I have a $5 off pet food coupon from a Val-Pack, and a 10% additional payout for can recycling coupon, several car repair/oil change coupons and a pedicure coupon on my fridge.

I don’t really do grocery coupons (I always forget them), but these larger savings ones I do use.

I tape these things up where I can see them on my way through the house/by the door. I figure if I don’t actually use my coupons, they become a form of mind clutter. If I see them, there is a better chance I’ll use them. I try to only hold onto coupons I think will actually come in handy.

For you:

What are your favorite coupons to use? Do they save you actual money, or is coupon collecting a waste of time?

Filed under Family Life, Frugal Living, Organization, mind clutter | Comments (9)

Camp Verde New Thrift Store Finds

Today I went to my wonderful nearby thrift store, called, strangely, New Thrift Store (in Camp Verde, AZ, along Highway 260). This is honestly the coolest thrift shop I’ve ever been to outside of those Savers stores and this one HUGE Goodwill in Seattle. Nice people, funky wares, fun background music, interestingly personable displays. Tons of stuff packed into a few rooms.

I found myself some lovely, inexpensive goodies:

• Warm fuzzy jammies $2.50
• Fabric to make my meditation cushion $1.50
• Fabric to make into a bedroom curtain $1.50
• Warm microfiber sweats to wear around the house $2.50
• 3 comfortable long sleeved shirts that actually look good on (always a bonus) $2 each
• A tree branch lopper (these scrubby, thorny bushes around the house need work)$1
• Homeopathic Foot Massager/Heater (so I can keep my feet warm and enjoy a massage while at the computer in my cold kitchen) $4.50
• A nice REI sunhat $1.50
• AND a ’skiing’ workout machine thing I can use while on the computer or watching DVDs $12 (I’ve been looking for something like this)
• A large-slice ‘bagel’ toaster $2.50

I felt so happy while shopping. All the employees are friendly and helpful; they seem to like their jobs. I love that the thrift store has a “happy hour” from 3-6pm each day, where everything is half off. There are interesting specials going on all year, like an extra 15% off on your birthday, and a White Elephant Gift Exchange after the holidays (bring in something you got that you don’t like and exchange it for something from the store worth up to $5).

There is a large and comfortable dressing room for trying on clothes, a “Guy Stuff” section with electronics and sports, tons of inexpensive furniture, neat craft supplies in zip locks, and a large salvage type area outside where one can hunt around for all sorts of bizarre, possibly useful items (like my workout machine). Everything is extremely well labeled, often humorously so. Great store!

I like buying used, bottom line. I like knowing that these are things that won’t be in the trash stream and can continue to be enjoyed. I got good things for super cheap prices, and I can feel completely unguilty about my spending.

****

New Thrift Store, 1575 S. Roadrunner Lane, Camp Verde, AZ 928-567-5759. 9-6 daily, closed Saturday.

Filed under Family Life, Frugal Living, green living | Comments (10)

What kind of drinking water do you get?

I know there are people who drink water from their tap, and I love living places where I can do that.

I had great water in Seattle, for example. In San Diego, tap water is virtually undrinkable. I have used Brita pitchers in the past, but at this point I live somewhere that the water is so mineralized that the Brita can’t handle it. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on gallons of bottled water (which also makes a lot of waste and isn’t eco-friendly), so Dan and I got 10 containers of a gallon each to fill with reverse osmosis water for 25 cents. We are pretty happy with this solution.

As a bonus, the water is so tasty we drink lots more of it than normally. Water is very very good for you.

One solution I have done in the past, which is my favorite, is to find a spring in the national forests to fill my water jugs for free. I don’t have one nearby right now, but I remember really enjoying doing that.

What do other people do? Do you drink tap water, visit springs, refill containers from machines, buy bottled water, use a Brita-like pitcher, or what? What would be your favorite solution? Do you care about the ecological impact of buying tons of water bottles?

Filed under Frugal Living, green living | Comments (6)