Saw my own trash bag math at the curb in Columbus and it broke my brain

I run a small moving crew here in Columbus and we burn through a wild amount of cardboard, tape and shrink wrap every week. Last Tuesday I counted the dumpster after a 3 bedroom job and it was 9 giant bags of nothing but packing trash, all going to the landfill. That night I stood at my own kitchen bin and realized I was tossing every single takeout container loose, no rinse, no sorting, just straight in the trash. Our city accepts clean plastic tubs in the blue bin and I had been treating it like a trash can for years because nobody ever told me different. So now the crew flattens boxes and I keep a rinse bucket by the sink, and in 3 weeks our curb trash went from 4 bags to 2. What did you all get wrong for years until one random moment made you look at your own bin?

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henry_webb682d ago

My wife still brings up the time I rinsed a yogurt cup and put it in the sink, then took it out and threw it in the trash right in front of her. Took me about 20 years to figure out that plastic tubs and clamshells just need a quick rinse and they go in the blue bin, not the garbage. I had been tossing greasy takeout trays loose in the trash my whole adult life and never once thought to check what the city actually takes. Sounds dumb when I say it out loud, but nobody ever handed me a list, so I just assumed anything with food on it was garbage forever. Now the sink has a rinse bucket and my curb looks a lot lighter, so at least the yogurt cup story has a happy ending.

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