Recycling? Um, not so much.

TGIF people! I'm sure you're all looking forward to your weekend.

My topic today is garbage. Literally.

The trash system on the island is pretty simple. Bag it up ('it' being everything...papers, eggshells, empty bottles...etc), put it in the back of your ride, find a big blue bin and toss it. Period. Here's a shot of a bin area:

Yummy.

We learned a couple of trash lessons last year, one comical - and one messy. We have no big bins outside of our house, so when your kitchen trash is full and you have no plans to leave the house that day what do you do with it?

Last year we had a bunch of people over for dinner during our first month. We had a full trash bag and wanted to hide it from sight so we decided to put it in an....uh....upstairs bedroom. Our guests arrived, we had some drinks, and our friend Robyn wanted a tour of the house. As we got upstairs I led her to 'the' bedroom. As I swung open the door and started to say 'Here is one guest bedr...' an odor like no other met our noses and both of our faces scrunched up in distaste. Sheepishly I said 'Yeah, we put our trash bag in here to get it out of the way, and apparently we've learned a lesson', and then we both cracked up as I slammed the door shut. Don't EVER do that at home, especially if you live in a tropical climate. Ouch.

Lesson #2. We had two full trash bags, and before going to bed one night we put them outside on the deck near the bar so that they wouldn't smell up the house. The next morning we found two torn bags and a nice pile of our garbage scattered around the deck and trailing off the deck into the grass. Awesome. As we put our gag reflex into full use while cleaning up we agreed to never leave trash outside again. You may not think that there are animals lurking, but apparently they are.

If we have a full bag now we leave it just inside the front door. With my waitressing gigs we leave the house more this year than we did last year when we were both tapping away on our computers all day. So it's easier to maintain trash removal. However if we have a full bag and someone stops by there's a good chance they're leaving with our trash, especially if they have a pick up truck.

Usually there are two bins in the bin area, lately there has been three - and as it's situated on a bend in the road it can be tricky trying to manuever in, while not colliding with oncoming traffic. Luckily we all know it's right there and people usually slow down just in case there's a trash clusterfuck, like here:

In the pic the car is pulling away from the bins, the car in front of us wants to pull in and we just want to continue on our way. The bin area, as you can imagine, is not the coolest area to spend time in. When we pull in one of us goes to the back of the car and heaves our bags in the bin while the other clears away the empty cans and bottles that tend to pile up in the front and back seats. Then we jump back in, shut the doors, and zoom off. The ground is cruddy, there's chickens trying to get out of your way, sometimes a stray dog or two are lounging in the shade of the bins. We've seen everything from full matresses, to refrigerators, kitchen tables, chairs, old couches...you name it people are dumping it.

You might have the same question that I do; where do they dump the bins? Do they put it in a big pile and burn it somewhere on the island? Do they place it on a barge and send it away? I'll find out the answer and let you know.

In the meantime enjoy your weekend. Take care of your trash. Smile.