Skip to main content

Measuring Household Waste Production

I've decided to try to measure my household waste. All my trash ends up in a specific trash bin before I throw it out, and all my compost ends up in a specific compost bin. I take out the trash as infrequently as possible: it only happens when they're full or when they stink. So why not measure it while I'm at it?

Using the magic of my postal scale and/or my luggage scale, I measure each bin before it goes into my trash barrels. Right now I am only measuring compost and trash, because I find that easiest.

The Net Weight of my Waste

Without further delay, here is my Waste Weight log. I use grams because metric is easier in terms of the math. Just remember that 1000 grams is roughly 2.2 pounds.

Net Weight
2022-06-18: Compost.. 1594 grams
2022-06-18: Trash....  990 grams
2022-06-27: Compost.. 2712 grams
2022-06-27: Trash....  904 grams
2022-07-02: Compost.. 1288 grams
2022-07-02: Trash.... 1688 grams
2022-07-06: Compost.. 1144 grams 
2022-07-16: Compost.. 1194 grams
2022-07-16: Trash....  958 grams
2022-07-24: Compost.. 1342 grams
2022-07-24: Trash....  754 grams
2022-08-03: Trash....  956 grams
2022-08-07: Compost.. 1680 grams
 
So far, per person waste: 
 Compost.. 94 grams per person per day
 Trash.... 57 grams per person per day
 
Notes:
 - Two adults.
 - No children at home.
 - No pets.
 - [Empty Bins: Compost: 372 grams, Trash: 308 grams]

What is being measured?  What are the rules?

Trash generally includes things that I perceive to be un-recyclable and non-compostable. That includes things like plasticized or metalized paper, plastic films, quasi-paper products, soiled paper-like products, and weirder hybrid materials (think "juice boxes" and "k-cups", although I don't use those things). My general rule is that if I have reasonable doubt that something is un-recyclable, or if I have no idea what it might be made of, then it goes in the trash.

Compost includes food waste, household plant waste, paper towels soiled with non-human, non-pet, non-chemical crud, coffee grinds & filters, and other scraps

What's not being measured

The waste that I produce that is not included:

  • Things I donate, sell, or give away.
  • Recycling, including curbside or anything subject to specialty recycling, like electronics & clothes.
  • Bulk waste, like a sofa or building materials (very rare, but usually super-heavy)
  • Yard waste (leaves, sticks, etc)
  • Waste water/sewer (including soaps, various liquids, toilet paper & "bio matter") 
    • By weight, waste water is likely my largest amount of waste
  • Waste I produce while not at home (e.g., while away on vacation, at a restaurant, etc) 
  • Waste produced by consuming fuels & electricity
  • Indirect waste created to make the products I buy

I could cheat by "optimistically recycling non-recyclables" and "give away total trash", pushing my trash off to someone else. That's not my point of doing this. I am not in competition with anyone. This is just plain old me trying to realistically measure my own current impact, and to see how it changes over time, and to see if my behaviors are realistically changeable.

Other waste measurement ideas

For future consideration:

  • Electricity, natural gas, and gallons of gasoline used could be translated into a waste number.
  • Household water use could be translated into a waste number.
  • Recycling weight could be measured.

I speculate that it is probably more informative to measure the weight of all inputs (purchases) instead of outputs. But I'm starting by measuring my waste.

Popular posts from this blog

Fixing a SodaStream Jet, part 1: Disassembly Guide

I've had my SodaStream Jet for years, and once in a while something has gone wrong. Disassembly is the first step to repair.  Start with this article to see how to disassemble the SodaStream, and then once you have that down, scroll through my other articles to see how I repaired specfic SodaStream problems. SodaStream Jet Disassembly Guide Tools Required Flat head screwdriver Phillips head screwdriver 1. Remove the Carbonator.  Duh. 2. Remove the black panel lever The front big black tilt lever needs to be removed first. Removing this panel is tricky, but it isn't impossible. Looking up at the bottom of the black panel, there are two tabs, one on the left and one on the right. These tabs fully secure the panel in place. The trick is to use a flat-head screwdriver under the plastic to gently lever the tabs out of the way.  Note in the pictures how I approach these tabs with my screwdriver.  I usually release the left side first, and then I release ...

Fixing my Wahl 9918 Groomsman Beard and Mustache Trimmer

Not everyone would bother repairing a $25 beard trimmer, but why not fix something for under $5 instead of spending another $25? My  Wahl 9918 Groomsman Beard and Mustache Trimmer  has admirably performed its beauty duty for many years, but the time came when the battery just wasn't holding a charge any more.  Most people would just put the trimmer in the trash and buy a new one, but I figured I could repair my otherwise excellent Wahl and save some money. In fact, even high priced trimmer and rotary shaver brands, like Norelco and Remington, can be easily repaired using a process similar to the one I used to fix my Wahl.  Read on to find out how. I opened up the Wahl by popping off the black plastic faceplate with a tiny flathead screwdriver, which revealed two screws.  By removing the two screws I was able to easily open up the unit, revealing the guts of the device. Backplate off, Revealing the screws The internals are rather simple: a motor, a...

Macintosh: Upgrading an eMac

It's been a long time since I wrote this article, but the fact remains: The good old eMac can still be useful if you take the simple steps to keep it as good as it can be.  All can run Tiger, and most can run Leopard - great operating systems for their day with a bit of useful life.  This article describes the procedure I used to upgrade my old eMac, including: Replacing the internal hard disk with a large capacity drive. Increasing the memory for performance Upgrading the operating system Here I'm upgrading a 700 MHz eMac, but the procedure and tasks for upgrading other eMac models should be almost identical. Upgrading versus Replacing My sister's eMac is of the 700 mhz variety, with 256 MB of memory. The machine seemed to be getting "slower", and the original 40 GB disk was becoming jammed packed with photos and iTunes, and within a few months she'd be out of disk space. There were two options to address the problems: upgrade the eMac, or go o...

Fujitsu S-Series Repair

The Patient: Fujitsu S-Series Laptop. The power connector of my S-Series Fujitsu laptop failed (a Lifebook S6110), just like so many others out there. I called up Fujitsu for repair; their local service center wanted about $80 just to look at the laptop (which obviously only needed a new connector). I concluded that it was silly for me to throw $80 at an estimate for repairing the power connector, so instead I went after repairing it myself.   Researching the problem.   At first I looked on the web for the right connector. After searching high and low, I found that the Asia Industrial Company appears to sell a very similar part, the DS-208 . Let me know if you contact them for this jack. I also saw a part for sale by a laptop power jack "repair" web site, but it didn't look like it would be mountable on my laptop's motherboard - the pins are in a different location, and I think it'd be very difficult to properly mount this part inside of my laptop.   Goi...

Fix a Lightning Cable with Heat Shrink Tubing

We've all seen a Lightning cable that has started to fall apart.  They get used every day, and after enough tugs and yanks on your iPhone, they start to fray. I've seen a lot of these frayed cables, so I've started to fix them before they break with heat shrink tube.  I get my heat shrink on Amazon, like this handy and inexpensive pack.   I prefer the heat shrink tubes without internal glue - it has higher flexibility and a smaller outside diameter once shrunk. Heat Shrink Tubing on an Old, Frayed Lightning Cable In the photo here, you'll see that I slid on a 1.25 inch length of heat shrink over the lighting connector, and then shrunk it into place.  I chose a diameter that just barely fits over the lightning connector.  In all, it took about 60 seconds to perform this repair. Warning: the white plastic of the lightning cable has a pretty low melting point.  It seems to start to melt at about 125°C (or about 250°F), which is the same temperatur...

Trendnet TEW-652BRP and DD-WRT Success!

I recently visited my dad while on a business trip when I coincidentally discovered that DD-WRT is now available for his TEW-652. The TEW-652BRP has been a great router for my father, but it isn't what I'd call "feature rich". An upgrade to DD-WRT is a big bonus. I live 2500 miles away from my non-technical father, and so a well-specified router that helps me manage his network remotely is important to both of us. This article will explain what I did to finally get DD-WRT working on my TEW-652BRP v1.0R. About the TEW-652brp It's a nice looking little black 802.11n, 2.5 GHz router. It was amazingly inexpensive (usually way under $30), and  the TEW-652brp is available through Amazon. Mine is a version 1.0R, you'll likely want the same version. Out of the box, it works quite well - it has been stable, and I was fairly happy with the stock firmware. But it was short on features - I like having VPN, SSH, and flexible DHCP services on the home netwo...

Other Posts

Show more