Local woman eliminates her trash output

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) -- Colleen Doyle reaches down into a rectangular, wooden crate in her kitchen and pulls out her trash for the week. All of it fits on the tip of one finger.

“It's like breathing now. It's automatic,” she says with a big smile, referring to her trash averting routine. “There's no struggle to make no trash.”

For her, at least.

About 2 years ago, the Providence resident was motivated to dump her waste baskets and garbage can after a trip to the central landfill in Johnston.

“Just seeing the volume of trash,” she says. “And whether you believe it or not, we’re going to run out of space. I felt guilty about throwing things in the garbage can all the time.”

She launched what she calls her No Trash Project in April, 2011 and is now living an almost waste free life.

“I find if you eliminate cellophane, foil and plastic, you’ve made a big dent,” she says. “You can compost most paper although the mail is a problem sometimes with documents and bills.”

        MORE STREET STORIES

• A Rhode Island Legend
• Climbing the walls

Colleen takes us on a tour of her kitchen, where you see stacks of glass jars that contain various spices and foods.

“I buy in bulk and store all my food in glass jars,” she says, pointing to what would seem to be step 1 in trashing your trash.

One jar holds rubber bands.

“I save these and bring them back to the farmers' market to re-use them when I buy produce.”

She stores the produce in her refrigerator that's stocked with another collection of jars, stuffed with packaging free greens, fruits and vegetables. She brings a re-useable metal container to the market when she buys fish, cutting out the styrofoam, cellophane and label sticker the rest of us have to throw away.

“This is a tooth brush that is actually compostable,” she tells us during a tour of her bathroom where again, everything from soap to a tooth brushing powder is contained in something re-useable. .

“Some people think it's extreme,” she says, again smiling with a hint that she might also think her 2 year old project is a bit extreme but still worth it. “Some people say, ‘Oh, whatever. That sounds great. See if you can pull it off’.”

She is pulling it off with one very, very small exception which brings us back to her miniscule weekly garbage output.

“I have produce stickers each week," she says. "That's something I haven't been able to fully eliminate, although, I am working toward that.”

A stack, although barely a stack, of a half dozen produce stickers is the only trash you’ll find in that wooden crate that holds her weekly garbage total. Think about that while you lug your trash can or cans and recycle bins to the curb.

You can follow Colleen's progress and pick up a few trash-trashing ideas on her No Trash Project blog .

Send story ideas to Walt at wbuteau@wpri.com and follow us on Twitter: @StreetStories12 and @wbuteau