i think if you dilute the heck out of it it would be ok... i try and recycle everything, in fact if im buying certain things that will likely break or deteriorate before i die, i think about how am i going to dispose of it. it saves me money. my patio table/chairs was bought becuase its aluminum(if it breaks i can still recoup a few bucks) lately my thing has been pallets. last weekend i brought 3 home from work, and built a crate (for 2 SWCs i built from neighbors cat litter buckets, wife wasnt thrilled about the sight of cat litter buckets in the yard, dont blame her) a build as you grow potato bin, birdhouse(funny story, that was a bet that i could build a birdhouse in 30 minutes, i took me 45, but still) and a nice toasty fire outside while i admired my creations. i love pallets check out global buckets.org? just google global buckets. great stuff. google "self watering container plastic tote" at my thrift stores theres ALWAYS(unless im looking for them) plastic totes. you can make a seed starting heat mat out of xmas lights, cardboard and an old cookie sheet(items usually at the thrift store) i save water bottles(we dont use alot) for mini drip irrigation waterers. poke 3-5 holes in the bottom and one in the cap. fill from rain barrel, sit down at base of tomato. 1 liter of water in the soil. less disease. less water wasted. i can go on for days. i likely will.

Here's a kick for you, Jannie. Trouble is ... I need a kick, myself ... so I guess I'll either have to wait for someone else to favour me with one ... or do it myself - later, in sequence: can't have both feet off of the ground at once (unless one is really fast on the draw). I started going through some small boxes in which I've accumulated stuff, about 3.5 x 10 inches, in which I sort mail, keep charitable receipts (for income tax time), mail that needs an early reply, stuff from family, Christmas cards, etc. It wouldn't be fair to count one of them as a "box" - it'll have to be at least a half dozen (a dozen?)! I found a bonus ... last week as I was going through some investment and stock stuff, updating them, I found one where I hadn't recorded a split, giving me double the number of shares, at half the price, each ... so that value is double what I've been updating recently. And another where there'd been a takeover, and I'd removed the company that was swallowed up ... but hadn't added the one that ate it. Think those pieces of good fortune will be enough to motivate me to keep working at the clutter? It should, don't you think? As I'm far from home, at the library, and to be here for while, then get supper when I get home, there'll not be a lot of time left ... if I'm to get my beauty sleep (which has been neglected for the last couple of nights). Just took a pill that I couldn't take near when dealing with food or drink ... and had to be careful, when bending over the drinking fountain, not to lose the pill ... one needs to bend the knees ... or pull in the water through pursed lips, sort of like the reverse of whistling. Librarian says that she's worked here for years - been there, done that! Actually ... I dealt with some clutter in the garage, for I'd left one car door slightly ajar yesterday, after picking up a box, resulting in a flat battery: only a dim light when I opened the car door. So ... I hooked up the charger, and hung a spade, cultivator and rake from the gardening days, that I've tripped over a time or two since, up on a nail. Plus a snow shovel and pusher. But that was re-arranging: not disposing of anything. After five minutes of charging ... when I moved the charger to "Boost" ... the engine started (if reluctantly). When visibility was a bit low the other day I'd left the lights on when going to church and needed a boost to be operational. Wonder whether, had the sermon been a bit shorter, it might have started? More likely ... it was the talking over the coffee that did the job. ole joyful

Hostagrams, is there anyway you can find another tri can spinner for your new home? I think I'd be tempted to take the old one with me. If you're home hasn't been sold yet take it out before you show it again and it's legally yours unless already stipulated in the sales contract. Thanks for the link too! Plow, sounds like you have a great system going for you. Along with your recycling service. I do say I miss it coming to our home like it did in the city, but it's nice to know here it helps support 4H. It's worth the drive into town. Cyn, now that you mention numbers one and two I should ask if they do more. I was only going by what the city took. Hubby just went up this past Saturday so it will be a few weeks before we go up there again, but maybe they have a website I should check. I'm glad you mentioned that. Thanks! Seasyde, thanks for the link. I'll check that out. I'm so tired of having to cruch them by stepping on them. Hubby has been doing it lately since I wear my Bass thongs all summer long and they and crushing just don't go together. I'd either twist my ankle or hurt the shoes, though they are sturdy (I replace them about once every decade) I don't want to take the chance. Mommabird, you don't mean Columbus, Nebraska, by any chance, do you? Jak 1 sounds like you have a great system too. We have bins just out side the door to the garage, but we were lucky and found a drawer type unit that works great. Never thought of adding shelves right out side the door for purchased bins. At the time we bought ours we were having trouble finding anything aimed at recycling. I'm guessing it's easier now. We found the bin storage at Home Depot for only $19.99 about five years ago. As you can see it's double that now at Wal Mart. Here is a link that might be useful: Sterilite stacking bins

We live in the country, too. There is a weekly trash pick up service in our area, but we don't use it. It takes us a month or two to fill a single 30 gallon trash bag. When one is full, I take it to the trash & recycling drop off and pay a by-the-bag fee that is probably one tenth the cost of the pickup service. I have made a concerted effort to stay off mailing lists, and we still get plenty of junk mail, which we shred. We have poor soil, so the shreds get sprinkled wherever we need the organic matter the most. I'd rather compost than burn. Yeah, I admit, sometimes it looks like confetti on our lawn, but the lawn is getting thicker! We compost vegetable scraps from the kitchen, autumn leaves, etc. As for cans and bottles, we recycle everything possible. Only non-recyclable plastic and meat bones find their way into our trash can, even with all the decluttering I'm doing with the help of FlyLady. Household items that are useful to someone else go to the Re-Use It Center, or I Freecycle them on the front porch. At first, I used a couple of cardboard boxes for the recyclable materials. But leaking liquids made them messy. So I replaced them with clear plastic bins that could be washed. I measured the shelf in the garage where we keep the recycle bins. I went to two or three stores that had a good selection of plastic storage containers. I used my measuring tape to be sure that whatever I got would fit into my space. I only need two boxes. One is for styrofoam, which shares space with a bundle of #2 & #4 plastic bags. (The bags are easy to pull out at the recycle place.) The other box holds cans, recyclable plastic & glass, which is how my local recycle place wants everything sorted. I also got a smaller box with a snap-tight lid. The mice chew aluminum foil and make a mess, but with the lid, I can keep foil out in the garage with the rest of the recycle stuff. When I have trash and/or recycling, I drive it over to the place which is also conveniently near some of the stores I need to visit anyway. I can combine my errands and save gas. It works out well for me. MaryLiz