Rubbish

What seems like garbage isn't always garbage.  Part of living sustainably involves making the most of things that we are used to throwing away.

Rubbish to us is often something useful to something or someone else.  For example, kitchen scraps (banana peels, watermelon rind, apple cores...etc) can be made into compost or food for red wiggler worms (that make vermicompost).  Recyclable material can obviously be reused.  There are shoes, clothes, book covers and many other items made from recycled materials.  Gardeners like Patti Moreno will use the dung of animals like chickens, rabbits and goats to fertilize their gardens.  Juicing is something that I need to start practicing again.  I haven't been juicing very much at all since I left the east coast.  I used to throw the pulp in the garbage until my dad started using it for compost.  It is also perfect food for the red wigglers.  Worms like the fresh kitchen scrap.  If the food is getting putrefied, it is better to throw it in the regular compost bin for it can hurt or even kill our little wriggly friends.

This is why I'm practicing what many Whole Foods markets have been doing for a while now.  Have a container for recyclables, one for compost (or more than one) and one for landfill.  The idea, of course, is to put as few things in landfill as you can.