going Trash Free!

[MommyHawk]

Ok, I'm on a mission that sometimes seems easy, and then again, highly ridiculed and complicated at other times. I'm trying to make my home 'trash free' meaning I don't add to the landfills. The only problem is when we have leftover bones from a dinner. DH seems to think that an empty garbage bag with only bones in it is ok to leave in the kitchen forever! Everything else is either recycled or composted, so the bag will never get full enough to toss out.

Any ideas on what to do with bones? My dogs are too small to eat them. I am now keeping them in a ziploc bag in the freezer, thinking I'll have a firepit in the back yard and add them to it and then use the ash on my garden...but what else can I do?

Also, what do you do with toys that break? Like remote control cars and such? can you recycle these?

Thanks!

[Pam_and_Abigail]

I'd like to do this too, but bones would be easy, as we have a municipal compost that takes things like that. One of my biggest ones is styrofoam meat packages. Some of our meat comes wrapped in paper, but we can't afford to buy all our meat that way.

Some toys have recycle numbers, so I'd check for that. Anything with a motor might be reusable for someone who likes to make robots or something - I'd try freecycle.

[iamloved22]

This is our goal too, but I'm having the same issues as everyone else, the meat trays and the plastic that they wrap around it and meat bones & skin. We live in the woods so if I tossed them outside they would disappear but we would have wild animals stalking our property! You could get a plastic buckrt with a seal to keep the bones in until you get them out to the fire pit or you could bury them on the edge of your property?
As for the toys, some have recycling #'s on them, some you could give away to goodwill or freecycle, or try the Earth 911 website you can look up what ever it is you want to recycle and it will give you the closest place to you.

[orangekoolaid]

any possibility into becoming a vegetarian? we never have to throw away any bones. LOL

my problem is the plastic wrap. it seems that is the only thing we really throw away. I try to get as much stuff in bulk and we use reusable vegetable bags when getting groceries but inevitably there's something wrapped with plastic as a PP brought up. my in-laws burn their plastic wrap but i'm not sure how good that is for the envt

[friendly fire]

any possibility of digging a hole in the yard and dropping them in......? your very own landfill?

[MommyHawk]

Is plastic wrapping not recyclable?

thanks for the freecycle idea for motorized broken toys

anyone do something with dog doo? I can't dig anymore holes in the yard

[aschmied]

Originally Posted by MommyHawk

Is plastic wrapping not recyclable?

thanks for the freecycle idea for motorized broken toys

anyone do something with dog doo? I can't dig anymore holes in the yard

http://www.doggiedooley.com/

Also, I've seen a worm bin meant for animal waste (!!!) but your dogs can't be on a heartworm preventative.

[MommyHawk]

I think for the bones I'll just burn them outside in our firepit and then use the ash for the garden or whatever. The doggy doo - I didn't know that about the heart medicine although that makes sense . I heard one person who flushed her's in the toilet, but how to get it from outside to inside without making a mess....maybe a compostable doggy bag and just bury it??...

[GenB]

OK, I may be burned at the stake for this, but we cover our doggy piles with lime. I keep it in a bucket and in the summer we go out about once or twice a week and either gather the piles into one or just cover each one. We live in the South and flies, etc. are horrible if we don't do this. I don't have small children, though. My dogs won't go near it. If someone knows of this being a bad, thing, please share!!