trashing the trash

That's right. We're going to do it. After about a year of having our garbage picked up only once a month, we're now going to cancel our garbage service altogether.

Here's how it works: we'll still have to pay for recycling and green waste/compost (Portland will now accept kitchen scraps and compostable food containers in the green waste!), but we won't pay for garbage.

Of course, even though we try to be really, really good about avoiding packaging and waste, inevitably we will create some landfill-bound trash. When we really need it, then, we can call for a garbage pick-up, which will cost $8. That way, we're incentivized to create as little trash as humanly possible, since the less we create, the less we pay. As long as we go for at least two months without needing someone to pick up our trash, which shouldn't be too hard for us, it's cost-effective to pay per pickup.

I'm psyched. And I hope that the garbageless option is making other people rethink their waste, too. It's awesome that it's an option here to pay for only as much garbage as you create. I fricken love this city.