I anticipate a slow start on this one (up to a point), so let me start with the mission description. First, the general purpose: getting people to stop throwing garbage away ... by showing them how that can be done. Now, to understand my plan as regards this specific thing, this blog, I'm suggesting that an essential part of how it can be done is learning to sort garbage. This is so different kinds of garbage can be handled in the appropriate manner for each type. That's sort of another long range concept. Sorting trash also has a more immediate role, though. I find I don't know how to handle several kinds of garbage, either at all, or I'm not sure if the apparently available options are really legit. This means I'm trying to ask "how does this kind of trash need to be handled, so it's not being thrown away?," and that, in turn, means I need to be able to identify different kinds of trash. Thus, the immediate purpose of the blog: to document various kinds of trash.
While I'm doing that, I think this will be a good way to document the overall stream of trash a typical household generates ... not that I'm a typical householder, although, then again, I'm not unique, in this day ... and, also, I'm looking forward to documenting things I am able to do to avoid throwing my trash away.
As for how I plan to document my trash, here, as I say, is item #1, and then, in general terms, I plan to photograph every item of trash I deal with, from now on.
The problem with this item is it's really a plastic bag. It looks like a very good thing, a paper sack, but it's not, and the fact that the paper is bonded to the plastic may make it even worse. Inside is this thin plastic layer, and I'm suspicious about whether that can be recycled in any way. In fact, when I thought it over, I realized there's a way to handle this: buy a different brand. This is a nice brand, so it's sort of too bad ... though, then, buying pasta shipped over from Italy is a little weird, really, even if it is extra good.
Actually, I got the idea from my Kat. We went shopping together, the other day, and she came around with a box of noodles, and said "this is the one with the least plastic. It just has a little plastic window." We talked about how it would be best if it didn't even have that, but there's no such thing. (I pointed out that it actually was nice to see the noodles. I wondered if a wax paper window would work.)
Kat is so awesome. She teases me about my outrageous no garbage project, but then she get totally into it, and comes up with ideas I never thought about.
I am thinking about getting a pasta maker. We're generally talking about disciplines, here: learning how to do things that, normally, we couldn't make time for, but that, if we plan, and study, and get good at it, we can probably do. And not only are they things that will cut out garbage, they're things that could possibly contribute to our living exceptionally well.
