When did trash become so complicated? There is no instruction book given to you when you move here, so it has taken me the better part of two years to learn The Rules of Vermont Trash:
1) You really should compost all the leftover food that you can. I say can, because we don't - yet.
2) If you want get rid of used household items like old chairs and dart boards, you put them at the end of the driveway with a one word cardboard sign that says "FREE". After two or three days, and at least one rain heavy storm, you should retrieve the remaining "FREE" items from the end of the driveway, and drive them 17 miles to the Goodwill.
3) Returnable bottles need to be driven 6 miles into town (using $3 worth of gas) to the Redemption Center. Once there, you will receive $2.35 in bottle deposits for two large garbage bags of plastic bottles you have been falling over in the pantry for the last two months. OK, you could combine this task with another shopping trip.
4) Non-recyclable (aka "real" ) trash is wheeled the end of the every-other Monday to be picked up by the private trash collection company. This service is not included in your taxes. It costs $38/month and the can is 64 gallons (half the size of the one we used to have). This works out to 1/4 of the trash for about 3x the price of where we used to live. On the plus side, they will call you from the end of your driveway if you forget to take out the trash can- Wow!
5) On the 2nd and 4th Saturdays, during a three hour window, we load all of our recyclable items and boxes (with certain exceptions) into the car and drive 4 miles to the town recycling site. To be fair, this is also a social occasion, and you do not have to separate paper and plastic. This service is included in our property taxes.
6) Never put a recyclable can in a non-recycling receptacle-especially in a public gathering.
7 ) You can dispose of old electronics and toxic waste in only one place- semi-annually at a semi-secret time.
8) Items that would be considered worn out and ready for the trash are not really trash. If at all possible, they should be repaired, reused, or re-purposed.
9) RiteAid will prosecute anyone that puts their household garbage in their outside cans. Ask the guy in Bristol.
