Today is Trash Day. This happens every week, so it really isn’t newsworthy; but I started to look at it from another perspective today.
In this era of so much volatility and dissension, here is something we can ALL agree on; the Trash must be put out on the designated day. In homes all over my small city, and everywhere else in America, people know when their Trash pick-up is scheduled, and dutifully put out their cans and bags at the curbside. In our locale, the Recycled materials are picked up every other week in their special blue tubs. (We have a schedule hung on the refrigerator door so that we don’t miss Recycle week.) So what, you ask?
Well, here’s what I have noticed. You can tell a lot about a person/family by the way in which they put out their trash;there are as many different approaches, as there are personalities. The Extreme Recyclers, for example, who live nearby, shame us all by their miniscule amounts of trash. Sometimes they don’t even have one full bag! Then there are the Reclusive/Hoarders; they put out only what must be thrown away. Their bags are full of used food wrappers and real leftover garbage. You rarely see anything in their Recycling except old cardboard boxes and newspapers. Another type on our block is the Anal Retentive Neatniks: their garbage is organized, very neatly wrapped, and stacked perfectly in rows and bins. Felix Unger would be proud of them! There are also the Very Confused/Perplexed people who never seem to have it together….sort of living life without borders and boundaries.These folks may have no garbage one week, and tons the next.It is usually scattered about and there are often crows feeding on the ripped open bags. All of these neighbors and many other types are in our ‘hood. We like them all, and do not discriminate on the basis of Garbage Etiquette.
At our house we are somewhat organized about Trash Day. We do recycle everything we can, and always try hard to minimize what will go into the landfill. There is a lot of creative activity going on in our home; with two people so involved in Music, Writing, Film, Art, and Crafts, lots of STUFF is being moved about constantly. When I look at the photo above of our trash, I wonder how much we reveal to our neighbors; I think we might be a combination of each of the categories I have mentioned.
It makes me happy that there are no arguments over getting rid of trash. It is something we all have to do, and it requires no political party affiliation. I am grateful to live in a country where we are free to express our trashy ways.
BarbaraBeardsley.com 