The Stockholm trash collector’s wildcat strike is over, as of yesterday morning (sorry, haven’t had time to blog the news). But there is a but! Although the battle-axe has been buried after a meeting between workers and the new (hated) entrepeneur, an agreement hasn’t been finalized, and things are still a bit shaky. For now, we can only idly watch things unfold.
For myself, the 4-day strike gave a good opportunity to look at my own trash. What happens if I can’t take it out? The result has proven not to be very scandlous. I went from a bag filled about 20% to a bag filled about 40%. And this while taking at least two daily cooked meals at the house. No diapers, no food thrown away, no filling the trash with recyclables such as metal cans or paper. Living by yourself seems to be helpful in trash flow control.
(More drama happened in the house though! A new note appeared next to the first one, that had announced special trash bags would be placed in the trash room. The new note stated how revolting it was that these bags had now been stolen. Although it felt wrong, I did have a good laugh over this.)
Then again, more resources are used per capita for heating (we have Winter I kid you not) when people live by themselves, not to mention the multiplied numbers of furniture, bed fabric, houses and all that stuff that makes our lives so Modern. It’s a bit like cars really. Which incidentally reminds me of this terrible episode of Oprah when people were advised to save the planet by keeping reusable bags for groceries in your car, instead of discussing the debatable strategy of going shopping with your car. Crazy.
Tags: Household waste, Strike, Sweden
everydaytrash 
Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 3:32 am |
Oh man. Even I have advised people to keep reusable bags in their cars, and I don’t personally own a car! Yes, we need to get folks out of their cars and onto their feet or bikes, but the reality is that many communities are designed for cars. Homes are far from shopping areas. And isn’t it better for people to have reusable bags in their cars than not to? Nothing’s stopping them from also having reusable bags, of the compressable variety, in their purses or backpacks.
So I agree with you, but I think we’ve also got to meet people where they are already and then push them to go further.
Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 3:42 am |
True, many communities are very car-based. But I think that what we should do in that case is to sit down and discuss how we want to activley work around that rather than accepting the car. I’m thinking community shopping bus shuttles, car-free hours where bikes in all forms can roam free, and tonnes of other ideas.
Much more difficult to implement, more frustration and less results, sure. But I think we need to say what we really want, and say that we don’t believe in cars, even in the face of people who drive them without thinking about it.
Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 5:36 am |
yep! people do’nt really see farther then their noses sometimes. Just take à reusable bag, to gonto the shop, 500 metres from here….sounds too weird to be true! sorry for my absence, busy, busy…happens sometimes!
Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 1:40 pm |
So glad to see you back in the mix, Esther! Yes, taking reusable bags seems simple enough. My biggest problem is unexpectedly shopping and ending up with more than fits in one reusable bag. At first I started buying a new reusable bag every time this happened. I’ve been trying lately to take two wherever I go. Next step: eliminating food take out trash. I’m not as good as Victor at cooking at home. I’d love to take a note from some of the others leading by example like you and Beth and Sustainable Dave so I can also say no to packaging.
Thanks for the update, Victor. Glad to hear the strike is over. Were the streets a mess?
Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 4:57 pm |
No, I didn’t see a single trash bag out on the streets for the whole time. Municipal authorities placed emergency containers outside restaurants, and people really seem to have kept things under the sink, or in hiding. Quite surprising, really!
Friday, February 13, 2009 at 12:47 pm |
How mysterious!