Trash Collection - Hannah

The trash collection system here could use some rethinking. There tends to be a lot of trash strewn along roadsides. This is largely because everyone puts their trash bags out to be collected, but dogs and other animals often get to them before the trash collectors do. So the animals rip up the bags and spread the garbage around.

We don't get trash collectors at our house. If we want our trash taken away, we need to bring our bags to the top of the hill on Monday morning. Fortunately, our neighbor Renzo offered to take our trash away more frequently. On his way to work, he drives by the spot where the garbage is dumped, so we just put our trash bags in his truck.

Some people use these contraptions to keep their trash bags away from the animals, but we don't have one. Even still, these are often surrounded by garbage as well. 

One advantage to having lots of animals around, is that they do take care of food scraps. We don't have a garbage disposal, so we collect the food scraps throughout the day and then dump them over the side of our hill. The birds, squirrels, and dogs pick through what they want, and what's left is decomposed fairly quickly, aided by the high humidity. 

We like to dump our leftover rice in front of the hummingbird bush. That way the birds come out of the bushes to snack, and we get to watch them.