Trash Talk And Decluttering – Clear Spaces (314) 956-2282

Assorted Box — St. Louis, MO — Clear Spaces

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Our last chapter meeting of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals featured the perfect educational program for Earth Day: members of the Waste Diversion program from St. Louis County Department of Health spoke about trash and recycling. And it was fascinating! I thought I’d share some nuggets of information with you.

Let’s talk trash first of all. The Department of Health licenses companies to collect trash and recycling. Should the companies fail to follow the rules, they could face fines or losing their license. Some of the rules pertain to the creating of landfills. I had the mistaken idea that trash was essentially thrown into a big hole in the ground and covered up with dirt. Disposing of trash is much more complicated than that. There are systems and rules in place that protect the public’s safety. The pits are lined with impermeable barriers to prevent leakage. Special vents are in place because methane is produced as the trash breaks. Constant monitoring is done to prevent groundwater contamination and other potential problems.

The public can help prevent problems by properly disposing of items. Household chemicals should be taken to a household hazardous waste facility. Keep the chemicals in their original bottles – do not consolidate or you may end up with a chemistry experiment gone wrong. Both the St. Louis Metropolitan Area (including Jefferson County) and St. Charles County have facilities: http://www.hhwstl.com/ and https://www.sccmo.org/918/Hazardous-Household-Waste-Collection, respectively. Make a reservation online. The facilities are irregular hours and if you think you’ll just drop by without an appointment, you may be disappointed. By the way, water-based latex paint is not a hazardous waste. To dispose of it, dry it out in the can or mix it with clay cat litter before drying it out. After it’s dry you can dispose of it in the trash.

Electronics need special disposal as well. There are two places that take electronics for recycling: Midwest Recycling Center and Spectrum Ecycle Solutions. Anything that has a plug or runs on batteries can be brought to an electronic recycling facility. The method of battery disposal depends on the type of battery. Alkaline batteries can be disposed of in the trash. Lithium (Li Ion or Li Poly), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), nickel cadmium (NiCd) and lead acid batteries can be brought to Batteries Plus for recycling. Our society has a lot of discarded electronics and all of the stuff that goes with them.

Plastic however has many of us really concerned. I was very pleased to find out that any stretchy plastic (for example: bread bags, shrink wrap, and zipper bags) can be put with the plastic grocery bags for recycling. Almost every grocery store and super store has a collection bin for plastic grocery bags. Do not put bags or stretchy plastic into your curbside recycling bin. Cellophane and styrofoam cannot be recycled. Please do not put things into the recycling bin that aren’t able to be recycled – doing so can cause processing issues at the recycling plant.

You can prevent more issues by insuring that the items you put into the recycling bin are clean. Here are some more quick tips I learned:

Caps on or off? On. Caps by themselves are too small to be processed.
Jar lids on or off? On. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the equipment can handle the lids with magnets.
Pizza boxes? Only the parts that don’t have food or grease on them can be recycled. The other parts need to be put in the trash.
Foil? Yep. Wipe it off and it can be recycled.

A terrific way to reduce our impact on the environment is to use fewer single-use items. Keep reusable shopping bags in your car and put a reminder on your steering wheel to bring the bags into the store. Use food storage containers instead of plastic wrap or bags. St. Louis County’s website has some more ideas for reducing waste.

While it is good to recycle as much as possible, please do not hold on to something because you’re not sure how to recycle it and you don’t want it to go to the landfill. Treating your home as the landfill is not a better option, and actually it is the worse option. Cluttering your home will not save the environment. Wishing something were able to be recycled will not suddenly make it OK to put in the recycling bin. Not everything can be recycled, which is why the folks from St. Louis County’s Waste Diversion program wanted us to know that we can throw things away without guilt.

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Truth be told, I’m a bit of a weather fanatic. When the weather turns ugly, I can often be found checking weather apps and watching the local weather reports. Part of my keen interest is due to scientific curiosity. The other part is due to a healthy concern for safety. As interesting as weather is, it can be very dangerous. When I meet with clients during the spring I ask them how they intend to keep themselves safe during bad weather. Spring is tornado season in the Midwest, and it’s not a question of “if” a bad storm comes, It’s a question of “when.” There are several things we check for in preparing for storms. There is an uncluttered place in the basement or on the first floor to shelter. You want a space that does not have windows. If you are sheltering in the basement, make sure there is nothing heavy on the floor above you. You do not want a piano to land on you. If you are sheltering on the first floor, make sure there are as many walls as possible between you and the outside – for instance, a closet in the middle of the first floor. You can get to the designated shelter easily. The path to the shelter should be uncluttered. If you are recovering from clutter, you may want to consider putting painters’ tape on the floor to mark a 3-foot path to the shelter. Remove all clutter from that path and keep that path clear. If your shelter is in the basement, make sure the stairs are clear. When moving quickly to escape a storm, you may not be as sure-footed as you normally are. Items on the stairs can become especially dangerous under those circumstances. If using the stairs is difficult for you, consider creating a shelter on the first floor. You may not have time to use the stairs. Protect yourself from airborne debris, which is the cause of most injuries from a tornado. Have pillows, blankets, or sleeping bags at hand in the shelter. Wrapping yourself up can help protect you from flying debris. I have heard of people putting a mattress over themselves, but most of my clients cannot maneuver a mattress off the bed and carry it to the shelter. Do the best you can with what you have. You should absolutely wear shoes. If there isn’t time to put them on before you go to the shelter, grab them on your way. A bike helmet could be a handy thing to have. Have a first-aid kit too in case someone does get hurt. Count on the power going out. You will need flashlights and battery-operated lanterns. It’s not unusual for power to go out before you need to move to the shelter, so it’s a good idea to have a flashlight in every room. Avoid candles and lanterns that use a flame. If a gas leak results from the storm, a spark can cause an explosion. Have a battery-operated weather-band radio in the shelter so you can get updates. A backup battery for your phone is nice to have too. Some radios have a power bank built in for your electronics, like this one: http://tinyurl.com/y4c8ryc9 . If you live with someone who is deaf, you may want to invest in a weather radio with strobe light notification, like this one: http://tinyurl.com/y3rk6er8 . Keep your pets under control. You may want to put your small pets in a carrier and larger pets on a leash. When pets are scared – and storms are pretty scary – do not count on them to be their normally well-behaved selves. Keep informed. Keep your radio on and check the news apps on your phone. Tornados aren’t the only destructive storms. High winds can uproot trees and bring them down on powerlines, houses and cars. Hail can wreak incredible damage too. Be prepared. Set up your storm shelter now. Declutter your path now. A few minutes of work can make the difference in how you are affected by a storm.