Thanks to Sarah, we're getting to the point where very little from our house is going to go into the garbage can. The green thing to the left is the NatureMill. The white receptacle is for garbage. The blue receptacle is for our new office curbside recyclable container. It looks like this:
What can go in here? This:
When we first received the NatureMill, Sarah thought she might have to send it back. It made an unexplained clicking sound and didn't seem to work right. A call to their service center gave us information that wasn't included in their instruction manual. Since then, it works great. So you take garbage that looks like this:
And throw it into the hopper:
Along with kitchen scraps, You have to throw a few standard wood pellets on top of it:
It churns and heats periodically. As long as you aren't tempted to keep peeking at the composting material, there's no smell. But, if you keep opening the door the smell gets out.
After 5 or so days of adding stuff, you have this:
Then, it dumps into the bottom:
After a couple of weeks of adding kitchen scraps you have a lot of fully composted material. This thing is pretty awesome.
That thing is pretty awesome. I don't know why the city doesn't advertise the big blue recycle bin better. It totally penciled out for us. We used to do the big trash bin (25/month). Then we got the big blue recycle bin (6/month) and downgraded to the 32 gallon trash bin (16/month)for a total of $22 month. After a few months with the big recycled bin (which takes just about every kind of paper) we downgraded further to the tiny trash bin (12/month). So now, we're at just over $12/month for trash collection, and we're recycling more. Truth be told, we split the cost of the blue recycler with our neighbor, so we're really only paying about $3/month for the big blue deal -- for a grand total of $15/month for trash. Of course we compost a bunch in a traditional bin and we no longer do the green bin.
ReplyDeleteWe rarely top of our tiny trash bin.
There's something really satisfying about reducing ones pile o trash to such a small amount.
As I said at the beginning of this rant, why doesn't solid waste dept push the big blue bin more?
Hey John, congrats on another awesome Midnight Century!
ReplyDeleteI hear what you are saying about the office waste bin. They don't advertise it. When Sarah called, they were even kind of evasive about it, warning her - "You know, it's not free!" We've thought about splitting the cost with our neighbors too, but if I had one less beer every week, it would pay for the whole shabang!
You drink expensive beer.
ReplyDeleteThat composter is TOTALLY AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteIf only I had the money... until then, I'll have to stick with my entirely-neglected backyard pile.
I never knew about that recycling bin. I have always been so frustrated about all of the paper products I could not put into my little blue bin. I'm definitely going to look into getting one of these!
Now if only I didn't have to pay for the weeks when I don't put out the trash can.
And, if only Spokane would take a larger variety of plastic containers.
I don't always drink beer, but when I do...
ReplyDeleteVery cool!
ReplyDeleteSo how did you get the big blue paper recycle bin? What number do you call?
How do you get that big blue bin? Do you call the city, or waste management (or whatever it is called)? My tiny recycling bin is always overflowing, and i get pissed when the trash guys huck the "non" recycling into the alley. or better yet, they put it in the trash...
ReplyDeleteI believe Sarah called 625-6580. That was the beginning. There were some transfers involved.
ReplyDelete