Last week, I cleaned out my parents' outdoor garbage cans/waste bins. There were three, and I will list them in order of disgustingness with the least disgusting first.
3. The garbage can
2. The recycling bin
1. The green waste recycling bin
All of the bins had been emptied earlier that day, and green waste won hands down for both foul odor and lingering sludge. It also attracted flies. Before I could clean the green waste bin, I had to scrape three inches of sludge (which looked and smelled like manure) out of the bottom of the can with a long-handled spade.
The regular garbage can, on the other hand, had a few stray plastic bags stuck to the bottom and some colorful splatters all around. It did not attract flies, and I was able to sweep out the debris with a broom.
This event reminded me of a question that often creeps into my thoughts when I consider green options: Is it clean?
(Because green waste recycling is definitely not.)
I don't consider myself to be a germaphobe--far from it, in fact, since I totally believe in the 3-second rule (or is 30?), share my food and drinks with anyone, and occasionally wear clothes out of the hamper. But when I look at green cleaning products I notice a lack of disinfecting promises. While my traditional Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner kills a certain percentage of germs lurking around my toilet, my Clorox Greenworks bathroom cleaner, makes no such claims. The package mentions removing soapscum, but not bacteria and viruses.
Apparently green cleaners are safe for everything in the environment, including germs.
How does an eco-concious person clean raw chicken juice off her counter? (Or does she just give up chicken because eating meat isn't good for the environment?)
I am also wary of food products that do not come in individual packages. Buying stuff in bulk out of bins or barrels may save on both the energy required for production, as well as the amount of packaging waste, but what's really in those bins? They have no expiration date, no guarantee of freshness, and really anyone (including the unsanitary people who use green cleaners) could have touched the food in the bins--whether it's grains, beans, dried fruit, I feel a whole lot safer purchasing it sealed, stamped, and safety inspected.
Some wonderful people may argue that it is the toxins from harsh cleaning chemicals and excessive processing and manufacturing that cause sickness and disease, but I say its good old-fashioned salmonella (and ecoli, staphylococcus, rhinovirus, fungi, enterococcus, parasites, etc).
