Garbage Remorse

I've been slowly building a post that covers several observations regarding life in Seattle versus East Coast living but seeing as today is trash day in the city I decided to feature a post on the first real "West Coast culture shock" we experienced since moving here.  I knew Seattle, and the West Coast in general was very "green" and environmentally conscious but I never expected dragging our trash bins to the road every week would be an embarrassing task. Our realtor explained the three bin system to us when we moved in: Recycling, Food/Yard, and Garbage.  I was impressed by the "Food/Yard" trash can and we made an honest effort to save our coffee grounds, egg shells, banana peels, what have you in a glass jar by the sink.  I was feeling good about myself.

Then we started walking the dogs super early in the morning when everyone's trash was out by the curb.  

I had my suspicions last week, but this morning I confirmed that we have THE ONLY FULL SIZED GARBAGE bin in the ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD.  And yes- it is currently stuffed to the brim full. In case you can't tell, the black bins are for garbage only and the green bins are for compost.  

The big green bin lingering behind our monstrous garbage bin is not ours.  The tiny, dwarf sized green bin is.

Most people have these pint sized lidded garbage bins that can maybe fit 2 full bags.

But these "East Coast recycling bin size" garbage pails, are what really blow my mind though.  What family of four is capable of this??  And yes, when I see these bins I look straight towards the house and scan for any sign of toys, bikes, anything to prove to me that certainly only singles and invalids can make it a week with this little trash.  Either way, I am now borderline self conscious people drive by our house and sneer that we're East Coast rookies.  So my [honest] attempt for the next week is to try to get with the picture and jump on the composting bandwagon.  I know it can't be that hard, it's just not always convenient to shove all my chicken parts and end of every meal into that smallish glass jar I showed earlier.  The recycling- we can do and have been doing pretty well.  I know there are several "cute" kitchen composting bins that would probably make this easier, but buying something to try to reduce our garbage seems kinda counterproductive, no?  Instead, I think I'm going to try to clean up the little green bin we put by the curb and bring that bad boy inside- right next to the "real" garbage.  We'll see if it's successful....