The Cup

Heck yes, I'm writing about my awesome new Moon Cup.

If you don't know what that is, or you are a guy, or faint of heart, you don't have to keep reading. I won't judge. But the Moon Cup has eliminated the need for disposable period supplies, so I am thrilled.

A couples weeks back, I finally invested in the Moon Cup and Glad Rags. Glad Rags. Lame name, amirite? But long gone is the need to buy tampons or liners or pads ever again, and I couldn't be more thrilled. I wanted to get rid of my bathroom garbage can, and this shift was the only reason I needed to have a landfill can there. I haven't eliminated all bathroom waste (dental floss, finishing up some products with non-recyclable lids), but I no longer need the garbage can! And in our tiny bathroom in our somewhat tiny house, it's nice to eliminate stuff.

Two weeks ago I started my period was given the opportunity to try out my new Moon Cup. If you remember the first time you tried tampons, or changed types of tampons, you can imagine what the experience was like. But three days in, I was totally used to it. The hardest part is removing, but it's not bad. Is it worse than removing a tampon? Not really. If you are squeamish about that, you'll be squeamish about this, it's that simple.

I cannot find any downsides on it, to be honest. It doesn't end up in the landfill, you don't have to keep buying supplies and it doesn't contribute to dryness. I purchased the Moon Cup rather than The Keeper or The Diva Cup (again, name lame) so I could boil it to sterilized and I also wanted to supplement the cup with Glad Rags, which are MUCH more comfortable than your paper (and chlorine) based disposable pad--and can also be sterilized with a steam iron. I built up to the Moon Cup gradually, a first 4 hours, than adding a few more hours (important to empty inbetween) of total wear during the day.

I'm not being paid to write this, obviously. I'm not THAT cool. I have been using disposable pads and tampons since I was about 12 or 13, so this is a big change from my usual habits for me. I'm so happy I took the leap. I'm a firm believer in pushing against "well, it's the way I've always done it" and trying new things. I rarely regret it!

Collection Day #43

I'm on the East Coast for work, but on my list of things to do I left for my husband, taking out the compost, recycling or landfill can was not one of them!

Collection Day #42

Yikes, this post is about 3 or 4 days too late!

Anyhow, we did take out a full load of compost and recycling.

On a purely esthetic note, I want a smaller recycling bin. Actually, it's not esthetic at all. I firmly believe having a small landfill can helps me eyeball every piece of trash I toss in there, and I need to be more mindful of my recycling pile as well. While I have only filled up my recycling 4 (now 5!) times since July 1 last year, I need to cut back further. I have the smallest can the city offers single-family residences (at 64 gallons!), but I wish it was something closer to 20 gallons. Even 32, the size of my compost, would be awesome, and take up less room in my small little driveway.

Collection Day #41

I forgot to write this earlier, which means I forgot about garbage day. Which means I forgot to put out the landfill, compost and recycling cans. Good thing I didn't need to!

Book Pick: Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century

"The per capita acquisition of objects in the U.S. has expanded every decade since the early twentieth century."

Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century. It's more than a look-book of stuff, but that's what stuck with me. The stuff. So. Much. Stuff.

The coffee table book studies 32 families in the greater Los Angeles area, watching, photographing, interviewing the members of the family as they live, sit, eat and everything else in their homes. So often studies of human nature occur in areas outside the home, and this dives in deep to the simplicity of living--which Americans seem to complicate unnecessarily and put themselves in financial instability to do so. As indicated by the second chapter, titled Material Saturation: Mountains of Possessions, Americans are willing to "purchase one attractive, well-marketed new product after another and taking on debt in vigorous show of consumerism."

From my experience, they are right. Both my husband I and grew up in homes where the impulse to buy something to satisfy even the tiniest and mundane of wants reigned supreme. This past weekend, my mother-in-law, living alone in a home of 3,000+ square feet, said "I should buy a basketball" after walking by a display at Costco. When I inquired why, she said it was because she had a basketball court in the backyard (which she does). When my husband and I mentioned there are three or four basketballs sitting in the (three-car) garage, she mentioned "those are flat." We calmly told her that she can pump up the basketballs in the garage should she choose to play basketball on the sport court that hasn't been used in years. The urge to buy SOMETHING because it's there, it's "cheap" and because I can is strong, my friends. Both our mothers have new items wrapped in plastic sitting around, because they were on sale, because they were bored, because just in case--just because. Their homes also look eerily similar to many homes in this book. My family had plenty of stuff, spent a lot of money on fast-food and wasted food in the fridge. My mother currently has 4 TV's in her home, but has been in default on her mortgage a few times.

The book is based on the work of UCLA's Center of Everyday Lives of Families, and is very straight-forward, presenting the facts of their studies and observations and more or less reserving judgement on the patterns observed by their study. Families spend less time outdoors, families have more and more TV's in their homes than previous generations. Family members spend more time alone in front of a screen than with one another. This was the early 2000's. My judgement, which I'm not going to reserve, is their findings are beyond depressing, and I imagine with the rise of mobile, it has only gotten worse. I cannot count quality family time as time spent in front of individual screens while sitting next to one another. As I write this, I'm on my laptop, and my husband is next to me on his mobile. The TV is on for background noise. I'm harshly judging us right now.

This book great read for anyone interested in taking a peek into the lives of others, without having to enter through a neighbor's threshold. A quick read in an hour or so, be sure to spend time looking at the photos. The facts presented a great, the interviews with family members are perfectly raw, and the pictures are, well, real.

Collection Day #41

Nothing to report today. From my trash, that is. 

I would like to call your attention to something awesome. The Zero Waste Home (my favorite blog) has a bulk locator app out today. I just downloaded it and have yet to play around with it, but I'm excited. Be sure to check it out, and buy in bulk so you have days or weeks of not having to put out the trash as well!

I Tried to Cancel My Garbage. Or Something.

Ugh. My water, sewer and solid waste rates went up. I sifted through my bills and found that the rates went up sometime halfway through my last billing cycle, but due to a credit from the Waste Management strike some months back, I didn't notice the change. This time, $40 later, I noticed. I do not struggle to pay any bills I have (since I got out of consumer debt!), but I am a conscious budgeter and want to pay for what I use. Naturally, I notice when my bills go up!

I didn't expect great things from calling Seattle Public Utilities. And I didn't necessarily expect to ask to cancel my garbage service either. Here's what happened:

I called around 5:30pm (the office closes at 6pm), and after about 5 minutes on hold (and of course, trying my best to quickly navigate the menu to get to an agent sooner than later), I had a rather unpleasant woman pick up my call. I asked her to review my rates and why they had gone up. Her response "they go up every few years." I was looking for a bit more than that. I probed and found out that the City Council raises rates and approved the most recent rate increase on water, sewer and garbage. Fair enough. I also asked here if she could clarify the meter policy (when it is read, where it is located on my property) and after a go around of a few questions, a minute on hold, me stating 3-4 times that my meter is not located where it normally is on properties, she told me it was "south box." Oh yeah, this conversation is going really well. I'm trying not to lose my patience.

Well, I thought, I'm going to do a little pressing with the garbage issue. I have no problem with the changes to the water and sewer, I pay for what I use there. I'm even more motivated to reduce my water and sewer consumption now that my rates went up. However, I'm playing a flat-rate for my garbage, and the rates increased there too. I'm paying more for a service, but using it less. Here's my conversation, as recalled about 30 minutes afterward:

Me: Is there some sort of cheaper option or a pay-as-you-go option for our landfill can?
SPU: The fee is based on the size of the can.
Me: Our household is only sending out our "micro" landfill can about once every other month or every 6 weeks, is there some sort of reduction in collection we can do, so we can limit our solid waste bill? We only want to pay for the services we use.
SPU: The city ordinance states that you must put your trash out every week.
Me: We don't create enough was to put our trash every week, or even every month. Do you offer a limited service program we could take advantage of?
SPU: We had a pilot program for every other week trash collection, but that ended a few months back.
Me: Will you be offering that service city wide.
SPU: No.
Me: What other options are available? My rates have gone up, but I am using the service less. Is there a way for me to cancel my trash pick up all together and perhaps share with a neighbor or a friend, or pay a disposal fee for what I drop-off at the dump--that goes in the landfill?
SPU: Ma'am, I've been working here for 23 years, and I'm not going to get into the politics of the landfill with you, it isn't my job to talk about that.
Me: I'm trying to find an alternate solution for my landfill bill than a flat fee, which doesn't encourage waste reduction. I really just want to pay for what I use.
SPU: Are you really having that much trouble paying your bill?
(okay, wow)
Me: Um, no problems. I just want to pay for what I use. Can I cancel my trash collection?
SPU: No, the city ordinance states you must have trash collection. If you want to do something, you could write your congressman.
(Okay, now I'm getting mad.)
Me: (audible grumbling, muttered something about this not being the same as paying for public education) You just stated this was a city ordinance, not a legislative issue. Why would I call my congressman?
1 minute hold, nothing. No response.
Me: Is there someone there I could talk to about alternate solutions for landfill pickup?
SPU: Not 10 minutes before we close. I can put you through to voicemail
Me: Can you please provide me with a direct number?
SPU: Yes, please hold
45 seconds later
SPU: The number is 206-684-7641.
Me: And who and what department is that number for? (being interrupted at the end)
SPU: David Marshall. He's the SEATTLE. PUBLIC. UTILITIES. call center manager. (yes, she raised her voice and pointed out that he works for SPU)
Me: Can you refer me to someone who would be in the solid waste department, who influences policy?
SPU: That's him.
Me: So he's the call center supervisor and the solid waste supervisor?
SPU: Yes.
Me: Great, thanks for this information!
SPU: *click*
Yeah, they hung up without really saying goodbye. Good thing I opted into the customer service satisfaction survey.

Alright, what was the point of that little exercise? I don't know. It seems kind of futile, I didn't expect her to change policy. I did expect her (with 23 years of service) to provide some sort of answers without being pissed off in the process.

I had actually been thinking about the best way to handle landfill, recycling and compost for a city recently--admittedly something I know very little about. I'm always a fan of a pay-for-what-you use system in most aspects of life. I believe is creates more conscious consumption which in turn allows for deeper personal consideration about what is necessary and important to spend money on for your family. But does that really work for trash? I would love love LOVE a system where those who pollute and waste more, pay more. I truly believe we've failed in society to capture the true cost of waste disposal via landfill, littering our oceans, polluting our air, etc. If I send little to the landfill, I should pay less. Those who fill a giant landfill-bound can or two each week with things that may have a second use, or would make great compost, or are designed to sit in a landfill and not breakdown for decades should pay more for using more resources. In a world of cheap oil, it seems that nobody is paying the cost of what they consume, considering all the natural resources it takes to refine oil to gas for our cars, or (and!) the amount of water used in the manufacturing process for clutter from China. In a simple example, if we paid more for oil, it would curb our consumption of oil products.

Would that even work for trash? By saying yes, I'm making a major assumption here--everyone cares as much as I do. And that's just not the case. In Seattle, it could work, but I'm skeptical. We're a "eco-conscious" city, and I want to believe that we are working to reduce our waste. All of us. We would waste less to pay less, right? Nope. I think that there are people out there who are solely motivated to save money, but not change their lifestyle. They could pay less for lightened service, but continue wasting the same, choosing to burn or illegally dump their trash. That would bring in the need for massive reinforcement and policing, something our city doesn't excel at in areas we currently need such monitoring (you'd understand if you drove here or rode public transportation). It would also increase the pollution in our air and waterways with less-than-ideal illegal trash disposal.

What would work? If manufacturers take up some of the responsibility of their waste and pollution, it would cost them more to manufacture their products, they can charge the consumers more for these items. In a perfect world, that would curb consumption and prioritize household spending. Unfortunately in a world of easy access to debt, it may take more than that to truly change consumption behaviors. If it isn't obvious, I don't adhere to the mindset that consumption=patriotism. My apologies to our elected leaders (not really).

I'm still frustrated. Leading by example and spreading the word seems to be the path of least resistance, because I am in complete control of my actions. The freedom of doing my own things keeps me going, but is it really enough?

*By all means, give SPU a call at the number above and ask for alternative solutions that encourage less landfill waste. Perhaps free compost instead of paying extra? Paying less for less-frequent service?