Couple's garbage for a whole year fits in a shoe box...amazing and inspiring...

Comment

Comment by Firewoman on July 15, 2010 at 9:22am

Aho!! My sons and I are really starting to take an even deeper look at what we own, buy and throw away. Each and every one of us can do something. We can't stop buying everything but what we can do is look at our consumption with common sense and change what we can. Little by little we can make a conscious effort to live mother earth friendly....yes, yes for our children and grandchildren.
Hope and love, Firewoman

Comment by Judiann on July 15, 2010 at 9:00am

Was thinking of my parents and grandparents the other day. All of the clothing that they owned they kept in small chifferobes. I remember that my parents shared one. They had two pair of shoes. One for dress and one for everyday. Limited clothing also. Dad had a suit and his work clothes. Mom had her Sunday dress and her everyday dress. She made them herself. When the Sunday dress was no longer looking real nice, all trims and fancy buttons were removed to put on something else, and the once fancy dress became an everyday dress. The only thing she had several of were aprons. A nice one for covering her nice clothes when we had company, and her everyday ones. Mom made all our clothing and bought us sturdy shoes which were always passed down when outgrown. My grandmother made us all sundresses with matching sunbonnets from flour sacks when we'd spend the summer with her. We never got to keep them though. They were passed on to younger cousins or sisters. When they were worn out, they became dust rags. My families mantra was waste not, want not. Seems common sense to return to this way of thinking and to quit letting advertisers dictate how we spend and use/misuse the resources of our children and grandchildren.

Comment by Firewoman on July 15, 2010 at 8:40am

by Erica Heartquist

kgw.com

Posted on July 12, 2010 at 9:38 PM

A couple in Dallas, Oregon has been trying to live trash free for an entire year. KGW first told you about Amy and Adam Korst last year.

They started July 6th, 2009 and goal was to use no more than a grocery store bag worth of trash for 365 days.

The Korsts are pretty much your average American couple. A couple with the idea to go trash-free for an entire year. When we first met them a year ago, the couple was four weeks into the project.

At that point, they had just eight small trash items in a shoebox. Now?

"Seventy five small pieces of mostly plastic trash," said Amy Korst. It's a different box, but about the size of a shoe, still. The small box of trash from the past year weighs about four pounds, said Korst.

Compare that to the amount of trash most of us produce daily.

"The average American makes about four and a half pounds of trash a day. So, between the two of us [she and Adam] that would be about eight pounds of garbage a day that we could send to the landfill to meet that statistic," said Amy.

They recycle everything. They have a compost pile. The grow their own food in a garden. Amy cans food in mason jars at home. They also buy food from local farmers and growers.

The guiding principle for the project?

"We don't buy anything that's packaged in trash. We look at the packaging ahead of time and if it's packaged in something not recyclable, we don't buy it," said Amy. In the last year, the couple also moved into a bigger home. You might think it would be impossible not to produce any trash when you move.

Well, they did it.

They used all recycled boxes, which they later donated. And they packed the boxes with recyclable paper tape. While "trash free living" may sound extreme to many, the Korst's say, it's much easier than you think.

"If everybody made that really simple change to look at the packaging before they buy it, and buy the most recyclable option, [we'd all] drastically reduce our waste," Amy said.

The couple plans to keep up the same habits, even though the year is over. It's been a good year, after all.

"We're pretty proud of ourselves," said Amy with a smile. The Korst's have been blogging weekly about their project, which they've dubbed the "Green Garbage Project." Learn more about their story and find a link to their blog, here: http://greengarbageproject.adammathiasdesign.com/

Comment by Judiann on July 14, 2010 at 1:53pm

Thanks :o)

Comment by Firewoman on July 14, 2010 at 1:50pm

Osiyo,
Sorry bout that..I don't know what happened but here is the link to the video shown on Channel 8 News.
http://www.kgw.com/video/featured-videos/Trash-Free-for-a-Year-9796...
Hope and love, Firewoman

Comment by Judiann on July 14, 2010 at 1:32pm

Hey Firewoman,
Guess the video didn't come through? I Googled the heading and got a site, but no video on it.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/04/01-3