Monday, February 11, 2008

Trashblogging ... no litterally!

There's a lot of trash talk in the blogosphere, but I didn't realize until the other day that there's also a ton (literally too!) of literal trash blogging going on - blogs that are entirely devoted to the topic of trash! I first found out about this in a CNet News article on bloggers saving, weighing, and writing about their trash. It seemed pretty extreme - one guy saved all his trash for a year! And then blogged about it at Save Your Trash. And we were beginning to think we were a bit extreme... Then again, there's a long way from Wisconsin to California...

Then there's Beth over at Fake Plastic Fish, who goes to great length eliminating plastic trash - even recyclables - and then keeps whatever she does generate. She keeps a running tally of all plastic items she's discarded (868 items weighing 13.5lb since June 2007). She's very similar to EnviroWoman - a self declared WhackedOutEcoFreak who also keeps all plastic and loudly declares not to use any plastic (although it's hard).

The CNet piece also covers 'Compactors' who never buy anything new...

Well, we don't keep our trash in bins in the living room, but most of the advice contained in these blogs are relevant and sensible. For instance, Save Your Trash had a nice summary post with good advice on things we've blogged about as well: Use a reusable coffee mug and bring your own grocery bags. He also has good advice we haven't talked about here: Use a reusable plastic bottle and bring your own container to restaurants to bring home leftovers.

Even though some of those bloggers are a bit extreme, the point they're making is poignant: We produce an awful lot of trash in this country (and throwing it away, doesn't really make it 'go away' - it's just moved somewhere else). So anything we can do to reduce this problem should be well worth it.

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