The Story of Stuff

Comment

Comment by Patrick Stoneking on October 28, 2009 at 12:46pm

I can across the 'Story of Stuff' site earlier this year while researching ways to cut down on stuff in my own life. I have 2 young kids, a wife, a cat, and 2 large dogs. You can guess what kinds of waste we typically generate. Last spring my family and I decided to see how much waste we could cut out of our lives. We now compost all organic matter, including paper towels. We recycle glass, plastic, metal, paper, cardboard, and fiberboard. Plastic bags (what few we actually allow businesses to give us) are either used for pet waste or recycled at our local grocery. If something comes with lots of waste packaging we don't buy it. If it is not durable we don't buy it. If we don't have a long term need for something we don't buy it. (The consumption economy is in big trouble with people like me). If we don't want something we already have we share it away on Freecycle. Guess what? We are now down to 1/2 a bag of garbage per week. If we can do it (with little more work than recycling and thinking about what we buy) anyone can.

PS - send the Story of Stuff link to everyone you know. I have and it constantly amazes me the way it opens people's eyes to a topic most people in our consumer-driven society don't ever think of.