In addition to adjusting to life in general here in Portland, OR, there is one thing that didn’t take much time and effort in getting used to: composting and recycling.
I must admit, although I was excited that Oregon is very serious about conservation, I was a little stressed about how many garbage cans to have, which containers get taken to the curb on what day, and if the Garbage Police was going to leave hate notes for putting the wrong things in the wrong color bins. After day one, the drama was lessened just by following these guidelines:
1) These websites: Portland Recycles! and Portland Composts! are great references (and look how enthusiastic they are!) For example, glass goes in the yellow bin, but its lid goes in the blue bin. Any cardboard with a waxy coat (i.e. frozen pizza boxes and coffee cups) are trash (black bin). Other states have different guidelines.
2) The regular trash (black) bin is a lot smaller than the other recycle bins and only gets picked up every other week. Psychology definitely plays its part (if you were low on dough, wouldn’t you be more mindful of spending?)
3) Get a small, sealable Tupperware or compost container. Line it with a compost bag. In Oregon, all food is basically game for the compost (green bin). Some people keep their bin in the freezer – we keep ours sealed under the sink. Yard debris is also compost.
4) When in doubt: put it in the regular trash.
It didn’t take long for my brain to figure out what goes where. And I wish we had a better system in Chicago. It feels good to know I am helping the environment and being a responsible human.
If you’re interested in composting in Chicago, here are some places that pick up. I promise it’s not hard at all!
http://www.WasteNotCompost.com
http://www.theurbancanopy.org/compost-club/
http://www.healthysoilcompost.com/what-to-compost
Also, this post wouldn’t be complete without a Portlandia sketch. Enjoy.