Garbage Service and Composting

I mentioned that we didn’t use the garbage service here for part of the time we’ve lived in Ashland. Actually it was for quite an extended period. We stopped the service when we took Laurel back to ISU [Iowa State University] in 1977 and then went on our trip around the periphery of the country, and didn’t resume the service until my heart attack (June 1991).

During this period the compost bin took all the kitchen refuse (including bones although these aren’t recommended for composting), all garden debris was either burned in the fireplace or composted, and all paper, including newspapers, was burned. This left a certain amount of residue which would accumulate in the three garbage cans we’ve acquired over the years. I’d make a trip about once or twice a year to the Sanitary Service dump with this residue and leave it for a small fee.

I adopted this procedure after my previous method of catching the garbageman on his weekly round and getting him to take the residue for a little emolument. I increasingly got the impression from the garbage collector that he viewed this sub rosa method as somehow unethical so I stopped it.

The primary reason for resuming the service was the expectation that after my heart attach that I wouldn’t be up to some of the yard chores that I’d previously attended to, like the periodic trip to the dump. The way it has turned out, about six months later, was that I could have resumed our previous practice. I find that I have a hard time keeping the weekly can reasonably filled, even with trying to sort out extraneous material from our belongings and disposing of it via the garbage can. However I also find that it is easier and simpler to have the service, even though under used, so I guess will continue it.