Last night, I was listening to Nightline while I was on the computer, and stopped to watch a segment on a lady who throws out one trash can of garbage in a year. You might find the segment here, but I don’t think it’s perma-linked. So watch it now. According to the EPA, Americans produced 254 million tons of garbage last year. What can we do to drastically reduce that? It’s simple, really.

I found EnviroMom’s website, and they are challenging us to reduce our garbage to one trash can a month by “pre-cycling” (choosing products with minimal packaging), reusing, recycling and composting. Click here for information on the “One Can A Month Challenge”. (And while you’re on the site, check out other pages.)

This was timely for me, because I try to be pretty conscious and conscientious about what I do with my garbage. On a typical week, I might have the equivalent of a grocery bag. This week I didn’t even have enough to fill a bread bag. So I decided not to put my cans out, thinking, interestingly, that at the rate of one bread bag a week, it would take many months to fill my big garbage can. Other than pet poop, I could probably not worry about the smell for long periods of time. So without knowing what would be on Nightline two nights later, I thought that maybe I would go through Lent without taking my cans to the curb. (I also have a large recycling can. But if I don’t put out the garbage, I don’t want to put out the recycling either, because that might cause both trucks to have to come down my street, and the garbage guy might accidentally trash my recyclables.)

Here’s a picture of my garbage from this week:

I was actually surprised how much the bread bag holds.

But this next garbage day will be different, because I have to clean up the house for Thanksgiving — including changing the litter box. So I might have to use a bigger bag.