The Trouble with Trash

This past week, I took out three bags of trash.  My short-term goal is to get down to one bag of trash per week.  In my own defense, I cleaned the girls' room over the weekend and that alone generated a whole bag of trash (I'm horrified to admit, but it felt great to trash some of their dog-chewed odds and ends!  I was able to donate to Goodwill much more than ended up in the trash, too).  In other words, we are currently a two-bags-of-trash-per-week family.

Of the non-cleaning-related trash, by my own account, over fifty percent of what went into the dumpster was compostable.  This was so upsetting to me that I called the waste hauling company immediately to ask why our condo complex doesn't have compost service while single-family residences in Union City do have compost service.  I was given a really polite laundry list of reasons why multi-unit residences are exempt from compost service, including logistics regarding shared parking lots, difficulty in getting residents to take ownership of proper sorting, and a lack of buy-in from homeowners associations.   Her argument was pretty concrete, so I decided against opening up a more philosophical train of thought about decisions based on societal good.  This choice proved to be a wise one, and I was able to negotiate the company rep into looking into running a pilot for our complex if I could get our HOA board to approve it.  So, as soon as I hung up the phone with her, I dialed the property manger and asked to get on the agenda for the next board meeting for a presentation about compost starring Sergio and Rebecca.  Fortunately, Sergio is an award-winning composter (that's how we pay the bills!) and we hope to use his knowledge to our advantage in convincing the HOA board that this is an awesome idea.

The property manager was a really good sport, and quite enthusiastic, albeit a bit behind on the times.  She asked me, "Now, just to clarify, is compost when you put your food scraps in the ground?"  I took her interest as a good sign, and she put us on the agenda for the May 30 HOA board meeting.

Wow!  Just imagine the headlines:

MISSION VILLAGE FIRST CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION TO ADOPT COMPOSTING PROGRAM IN UNION CITY

One can dream.  Wish us luck at the meeting next week!