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Comment by Skunkleton | Hacker News Reader

> The last time I had to empty my trash was June 2017.

I would like to know more. What sorts of things have you eliminated? What are you recycling/composting that normally is deemed trash? How do handle things like greasy cardboard?

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Also, does he brush his teeth? Or buy anything? There's a lot of trash that isn't food packaging.

To be fair, we don't know the size of his trash bin.

Sometimes I end up with an apartment size trash bin :)

Brushing teeth is the best inquiry you could come up with for waste generation?

How many tubes of toothpaste do you use per year? Sounds like you're using far, far more than necessary.

Though you can also just brush your teeth with baking soda and go tubeless if you wanted to.

Wow you've read a lot into that comment (and hyper-literally). My point was that the "little" things we overlook add up to a lot of trash. My question is not "how about his toothpaste?" but rather "how does he live his life?"

Thinking back over the last week, I've bought grass seed, a dehumidifier, paper, toiletries, and some toys for my kids. All of those are easily overlooked but add up to me not being able to go a year without emptying my trash, even if all my food waste and packaging were removed.

Here's a video I made of my garbage, recycling, and composting: http://joshuaspodek.com/leadership-environment-podcast-5

Here are more posts on my evolving practices http://joshuaspodek.com/js_blogseries/avoiding-food-packagin....

Thanks, this is what I was hoping for. Sorry if my questions brought you negativity.

I dig the absolutist approach you take to garbage. Have you thought about it's impact on your overall environmental footprint? For example, have you considered the trade off between energy efficiency and trash efficiency? You poke at canned tomatoes, but eating a canned tomato is probably more energy efficient than eating a fresh one. Another example, I have eliminated paper towels in favor of reusable cloth. I wonder if the paper was overall more environmentally friendly, given that I don't have to run the paper towels through the washer. Thoughts?

Well first I guess he can do composting, because even though I cook most meals, I still have to peel and cut stuff, and without a garden that's filling my can. Also greasy cardboard is not much encountered when you cook.

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