Note: I wasn’t very clear in my post, I think everyone pays for garbage, but not everyone is charged based on how much garbage they throw away. Many places charge a flat fee instead of a per bag fee. Also the picture below is a stock photo, not my actual garbage. 
Today is trash day, and twice a week we drag the cans to the curb to be picked up by the city. Many times I am reminded of Amy Dacyczyn
Now I realize for those who live in the country this is probably not uncommon, but for us city folk that is amazing. A family of eight only having enough garbage to fill one bag per month, still impresses me years after I read her book. As I took out the trash last week I started thinking about how being charged for garbage would change my behavior.
I do not consider myself a wasteful person, but how much more resourceful would I be if I was charged to throw things away? How much more resourceful would you be if you paid $5 a bag for garbage? I think I would start getting very creative with how to use things I normally throw away. What about you?
This post is linking to Frugal Friday.
Recycling has made a huge difference in how much is actually put into our trashbin.
The first time we set out trash in Kansas we only had one trash bag for a family of 5 for the week. That’s when we thought everything could be recycled so we had two bags of recycled trash. Found out very quickly Leavenworth only took paper goods and plastic bottles for recycling. No food containers, etc.. Still, looking around the neighborhood, we never had the amount of trash as anyone else because we did the recycling and yard waste pick ups.
Here in Fairfax we recycle as much as we can. They don’t take everything but it makes a big difference. For a family of 5, we still only average 3 bags of trash a week.
Living in Germany, how you recycled depended upon where you live. Wiesbaden, we had the gelbe sack (all recyclables), regular trash, glass, paper & aluminum. Everything was convenient in disposal so there wasn’t a reason you couldn’t seperate anything. Our friends in Mannheim had to seperate biodegrable trash from regular trash. In Auerbach, we had to seperate all of our recyclables depending upon the type. 7 bins sat outside of our house for the plastics on top of our paper bin and trash bin. Once we moved to Grafenwoehr, we went back to the gelbe sack. I was so happy about this because I never quite mastered how to seperate out all of the plastics. All of this has kept us up in recycling as much as we can.
My kids do the same, they are getting better, and I saw the stock photo comment after I posted.
Love your site!
we’re charged by what size can we want and i get the smallest. i’d almost be able to go without except that curbside recycling is rolled into that fee and i do put a ton more in my recycling bin
We live in Maine like Amy and pay by the bag. We went from a whole lot of trash to one bag a week for our family of five. I now have at least two garbage cans full of recyclables a week. We also compost and have chickens who get most of our organic waste.
I was initially against the pay as you go idea as I viewed it as another tax, but it has done wonders for reducing our waste.
One additional suggestion is to donate to your local preschool, children’s museum, art center, etc. They will many times take some of your recycling, that the cities cannot accept. They also love any crafty odds and ends that you donate, and the kids always love new items to create with. Hope this helps someone.
Nanny in Chicago
We are lucky, we pay for garbage according to how much we throw out. Either by buying bags, or by paying quarterly for a blue trash bin (you pay according to the size of the bin, and it’s pretty cheap). It’s not included in our property taxes, so if you don’t throw much out, you aren’t paying for everyone else too. Curbside recycling is included in our property taxes, alond with yard waste and whatnot.
We employ the smallest bin, and it fits 2-3 medium kitchen bags. Now, since we’ve moved into our house (last May) we’ve had a LOT of cardboard to recycle, and a LOT of food packaging thanks to TONS of family and friends staying for weekends. Our curbside recycling is not single stream, it requires a lot of sorting, and they don’t take the #1 item we need to recycle CORRUGATED CARDBOARD. So, we haul that in ourselves. I can’t wait until the single stream system is in place – they’re going to take virtually everything!
We’ve helped save space in our trash bin by emptying and smashing any plastic we can’t recycle (which is significant, given our recycling program takes very few types), using more kitchen towels vs. paper towels, reducing how much we cook to avoid wasting food (cooking for two not four when there are only two of us), and buying things with as little packaging as possible.
We still have a lot of trash for just two of us, but until we stop buying new things for the house we’re going to have a lot of packaging material to toss, and as much as we try to recycle everything we can, I know we are throwing away some recyclable material.
It was one of my NY resolutions to get a grip on the recycling system here, and I’m making headway.
you guys are making me feel bad LOL (not necessarily a bad thing per se).
I have no idea how much we pay for garbage pick up, but i know is cheap (i think is a annual fee).
Not only that, but many many times I had extra garbage that i just left next to the blue bin it and it was picked up no extra charge. For recyclables the same applies. They will even pick up big appliances (I think there are a yearly limit of 1).
We also get bulk trash week. They will collect a pile of trash up to 12 feet long, 3 feet high, and 3 feet wide. Any excess can be dumped for free (up to 1 ton) at the transfer Plant.
We have about a bag a week for the four of us. We recycle plastic, glass, paper. I really think the city should pay people a certain percentage to recycle. A small percentage could be taken off a family’s water bill. I think it would encourage more people to recycle. I have neighbors who have ton’s of garbage, but they rarely recycle. Everyone is charged a flat fee. I would love to be charged $2 a bag. That being said, a good thing is the city will haul away large items free. All you have to do is call.
this is why it is important to think about what you throw away. Many things are toxic in landfills and/or when burned….batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs (contain mercury), plastics, so on. My city has a tox dump facility and I collect all toxic items until I am able to make a trip out there, with my husband’s pick up and no kids.
Oh…and Indiana isn’t really on the “green” train and so we burn our trash for energy, in addition to coal, we pay for recycling pick up but trash pick up is free. I pay $20 every three months for a huge rolling recycling bin that is picked up every other week. We need two of them but that would be double the cost! OMG! I just have cardboard piled up in my garage all the time because I am too cheap to pay for two bins and too lazy to pack up the cardboard and take it to one of the recycling dumpsters scattered around my city.