I have always understood waxed paper was not recyclable or compostable.

It's really up to each municipality (or more precisely, their recycling contractor) - ours started allowing gatefold milk cartons just last year, along with a bunch of other new things, and I had the same "but that's not recyclable!" reaction.

(I'd still trust the list more than the cover illustration, though. Who knows if they intended for that to be actually official or just for pretty.)

We have curbside pick up for trash, recycling, and green waste. And the cool thing about the green waste is that the city actually composts it and then gives away the mulch for free. We compost most of our food waste ourselves.

To answer Connie's question another way, yes, you can just use it in your garden, but even if you aren't using the compost (or aren't using it very often) you still are producing significantly less waste.

Hilarious Old Spice parody promoting studying at the Harold B. Lee Library. "Look at your grades. Now look at mine. Now back at your grades, now back to mine."

Hilarious Old Spice parody promoting studying at the Harold B. Lee Library

I'm blocked from that, is that the Brigham Young University Library?

I believe so. It's really well done.

But...but...the actor says "liberry." TWICE.

Sammich I'll forgive. Liberry is a pet peeve.

A coworker discusses Comi-Con [link]

Cool photo from Leonard Nimoy's twitter [link]

OMG so much to respond to.

I'd like to start composting, but I don't have room for a huge compost bin - too much of my yard is sloped too steeply to put anything on. Anyone know of a small, one-person's-garbage-worth composter?

How do you feel about worms? You can set up a bin in a rubbermaid storage container pretty easily. They are low maintenance, don't smell, consume veggie waste/tea bags/coffee quite happily but forgive you if you forget to feed them. Main problem is occasional fruit fly issues, but those are pretty easily preventable/resolvable.

Worm castings only need to be harvested once a year or so, and if you know someone who wants their one bin, you can get them to help you in exchange for some of the worms. You could even sell the castings - they are like compost gold.

Here's a good primer: [link]

Let me note that if worms make you go "uggh," then I certainly don't judge.

Quite correct that waste production is a small part of one's footprint.

Plastic bags do gum up recycling equipment.

Waxed paper is compostable, but takes longer to break down so you might not want to try it in your backyard bin. Plastic-coated paper is, of course, not compostable.

What pictures and words are on the labels are generally CAREFULLY selected. You don't want to get the pictures wrong, especially b/c of literacy and language issues.

Reduce-reuse-recycle is not just a catchy motto, it's a hierarchy.

Pay-as-you-throw is wonderful for giving people incentives to reduce their waste. Unfortunately, it also tends to increase illegal dumping; for example, UNC owns/pays for over 100 dumpsters and we already have an issue with household garbage in our dumpsters. If our county went to PAYT I'm sure it would spike, at least initially. (Note I am not arguing for or against, just pointing it out)

Recycling varies widely across the country not just because of political leanings, but markets. However, legislation requiring recycling can also help create markets.

Nora, I ain't gonna lie, the lack of recycling in NOLA is a factor in my complex "should I move?" matrix.

While Zero Waste is a statistical improbability, I do love it as a guiding precept. It's like an asymptote - you can never reach Zero Waste, but it'd be good to see how close we can get. There's a saying which I think originated at Berkeley's Ecology Center - "If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled, or com-posted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or removed from production" - and I dig it.

There are a growing number of corporations embracing the Zero Waste model or a variation thereof, notably Toyota, Suburu, and Interface (they make carpet).

I don't generally give people shit in their house, they just get defensive b/c they know me.

I don't generally give people shit in their house, they just get defensive b/c they know me.

I would totally change everything in my house before you came to visit. Hee.