Trash experiment Day 3

My box of trash is sure filling up after just three days

All right, it's confession time. I sold out the environment for a buck. Well actually, it's worse. I sold out the environment for a bottle of hairspray.

You see, I needed shampoo and conditioner so I stopped by a beauty supply store today. I picked up a bottle of shampoo and conditioner that each cost $21.99 so I'd be spending around $44. But then at the counter they told me I could get a boxed set of the same brand that came along with a bottle of hairspray, all for the slightly cheaper price of $40. It was a good deal so I said OK but then I realized what that meant. Packaging. Yet I bought it anyway even though I already own hairspray and don't actually need any. When I got home I had to add the plastic and paper packaging to my box of trash that I'm collecting this week (see my previous post to explain why), knowing that while the packaging material is recyclable, it really wasn't necessary. Darn it. To atone for my sin I'll have to make sure I use lots of hairspray tomorrow. 80s look, here I come.

And in a side note, I heard on the radio today that Metro's Blue Line, the light rail line that runs from downtown Long Beach to downtown LA, is the most successful light rail line in the country. This fun fact came from Michael Dukakis of all people, who it turns out is a bit of a transportation expert (he was pushing high-speed rail in his interview on NPR's Day to Day). I'm not sure what exactly he meant by "successful," whether he means the Blue Line has the most riders or it makes the most money. Either way that was cool to hear. I felt some LB pride, I admit.

My trash experiment begins

My box of trash is pretty empty so far

Today I began my "week's worth of trash" experiment and already a few hours in I've made one change. First, let me explain. Inspired by one man's efforts to keep all his trash and recyclables for one year, for one week I'm collecting all my trash and recycling in a box. The idea is to recognize how much waste I'm responsible for and find ways to cut back.

I decided to start today (Monday, Feb. 2). This morning I was paying my bills and one of my credit cards had an extra paper inside about signing up for online statements. How could I ignore that sign? I went to the website and signed up to get my bill sent to my e-mail so I can pay online. My house-related bills, like cable and electricity, are already automatically deducted from my checking account every month but I did that more to make sure I didn't forget to pay them. And in fact, the electric company still sends me a paper statement. But my credit card statements still get sent in the mail and I either mail in a payment or pay online. I had hesitated to sign up for online statements because I worried I would forget to pay the bill if I didn't have the bill lying on my table to remind me (not that that strategy is foolproof either. It's easy to ignore clutter for weeks on end). I decided I'd give this a shot though.

So for this month, I wrote a check and put the bill in the mail. Then I took the flier about signing up for eBill and ePay and sadly put it in my box of trash, which for right now is still pretty empty. But then again, I'm only a few hours in.