Basement Progress

In a little over a month, 111 trash bags, innumerable dump runs, lots of help from kids and friends, regular thrift store runs, about $50 in dump fees, and frequent sanity breaks, our basement went from



to





Amazing, huh?

I found myself driving around today, and considering everything I saw as things which would have to be disposed one day. This basement project has really driven home to me how much garbage we produce as a society. Scary!

I googled it and found this on the EPA website:

How much municipal solid waste is generated each year in the United States?

In 1998, approximately 220 million tons of municipal solid waste or garbage was generated in the United States. This means each person generated an average of 4.46 pounds of solid waste per day.

4.46 pounds per person. This means that our family would produce more than 40 lbs of garbage daily, 281 lbs weekly, and half a ton each month. In that case, maybe the 111 bags aren't even that much. I mean, we are talking about seven kids and eight years of basement neglect.

Still a lot of work to be done, but we are getting closer and closer!