Do you know the garbage man?

So as you may have read in a previous blog, I recently signed up for the Full Monte of recycling with my trash collecting peeps.

And I can hardly wait to hear the dulcet tones of the garbage truck tomorrow morning. I'm drowning, and he has the life preserver that rolls by in the shape of a clunky big truck with the convenient slow-crush feature.

We've been almost unthinkingly tossing the stuff that can be recycled into a separate bin these past two weeks. Just to clarify, here's the list of the recyclables my trash company collects.

Corrugated cardboard

Any colored paper

File folders

Magazines

Brochures and pamphlets

Computer printouts

Envelopes

Manuals with glue bindings

Cereal boxes and all things paperboard

Books

Junk mail

Coated paper

Phone books

Plastics, numbers 1 through 7

Glass bottles and jars of any shape or color

Steel and aluminum cans - and the labels don't need to be removed!

And of course the garden variety soda cans and newspaper.

It's been so easy. And combined with the composter, what's left to throw in the trash, really?

So like I mentioned, we started with a bin on the back porch. It didn't take long to fill it up.

So I went in search of Bin Number Two.

Then that filled up, fast.

So we started another collection.

To refresh your memory, this collection was accumulated over a 2-week period.

Thank god tomorrow's trash day.

I did mention the composter, didn't I?

So we just put fresh bits, rinds, coffee grounds, egg shells, that kind of thing in a bowl in the sink.

It kind of looks like this.

Okay - it looks exactly like this:

When the bowl gets full, someone takes it out to the composter.

I know, I know. I get this whole hippie label slapped on my back with frequency to my face, and probably a whole lot more often when I'm not around.

Because people who recycle like we're doing get that derisive punch line-ish reaction. I don't really care, though.

Doing this level of recycling is just so freaking easy, and once I got started full-tilt, I started seeing my trash in a different way.

Tossing crap in a separate container takes just a little bit of 'oh, yeah; this goes in there.' For about a day. Then it comes naturally.

The most obvious revelation of these past two weeks is that I need a bigger bin. Or two.