Bad idea to open this thread while I’m eating my lunch… 
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Actually rabbit poop is a fine fertilizer for flowers and vegetables. It is very mild and can be applied directly, fresh without any fear of harming the plant. It is really the best manure for a gardener to use.
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I have been taking advantage of our small, local bulk food store, using my own containers a lot. Items include spices (chia seeds, everything seasoning, other spices depleted in pantry), flour, sugar (which oops was slightly more expensive but seems good quality)
QUESTION: How would you clean out an olive oil bottle for reuse? I see many people buying it from the barrel and might give it a try.
You don’t. You just put more oil in it. 
You buy oil into a wide mouth container that can be easily washed and transfer it into the bottle.
The alternative is a bit more work. Lots of soap, bottle brush, and elbow grease.
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I would clean it out with soap and water then put it in the dishwasher if it fits.
When the bottle gets oily on the outside and sticky, I think it’s gross. We use a ton of olive oil. I use to have some bottles with a narrow neck ( hard to clean). Now I have ones that are a bit larger with the pour spout.
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@Colorado_mom I fill it with soapy water and leave it overnight. Shake vigorously and empty. Repeat once more and rinse thoroughly. Olive oil is the toughest.
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Sounds like many people compost with a bin on the counter and then are able to use the material outdoors. I live in CA where we have a third bin from the waste company for lawn waste + food waste and composting is mandatory. It took a short time to get used to it but it’s now easy and natural. The indoor bin that came from the garbage company was poorly designed. We have found this one to be an ideal design and easy to use. We keep it under the sink. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZDRTFYN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 There are liners for it. I get them at our local Costco in the bay area but I haven’t seen them consistently outside the bay area.
In addition, at the beginning of the pandemic, dh and I decided to try to stop using paper towels and napkins. I bought a pack of shop rags (these were definitely less when bought initially – not sure if there’s a lower priced option) and we used these as napkins, to wipe up spills, etc. When we have guests over, we use cloth napkins. We may use one roll of paper towels every 6 months now. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JY0MIWY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
I switched to powder tide so I could at least get away from using plastic for laundry detergent and recycle the cardboard…I tried the disposable strips (brand mentioned above purchased from Amazon) but I could never tell if my clothes were getting clean or not. If anyone has tested it in any way, I’d love to hear. And any suggestions for dishwasher detergent that doesn’t come in plastic containers. Definitely a work in progress in our house.
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You can buy Miele detergent in paper packaging. It is not cheap, but I cut every tub with kitchen scissors in half, and the dishes come out just as clean as with a full tab.
https://www.amazon.com/Miele-All-Tabs-Dishwasher-Tablets/dp/B08DVDV52H
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@collage1 - We are in Minneapolis and while composting is not mandatory it is strongly encouraged and we are provided with the 3rd bin. It did take us a bit to get used to it, but it’s second nature now. I have posted a link to the bin we bought at Target. The liners are easily found in our local store.
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We have a similar container on the countertop by the sink. The liners are sold everywhere; we buy ours at Costco. I take food scraps out as soon as the container gets almost full, so no smells, and cats can’t get in it.
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I like seeing the various compost pails folks have selected. For now we are still using countertop pail shown in post #105, and the plate on top is handy for plopping coffee grounds/filter for the yard. (Yes, I know most people would not like seeing it out in the open… but we tend to have more stuff and clutter out in view than most families.)
For liners, we’re always delighted to have Trader Joe composted produce bags. We don’t visit TJ very often though, so usually I line the pail (which was actually a flower pot for a mail order rose bush gift) with non-recycle items such as bread bag or cereal box liner. Then we empty into compost bin and put bag in trash bin.
I’m delighted to report that my husband has been happy with the experimental phase of not using hefty trash bag in the big kitchen can plastic pull-out liner can, now that the yucky stuff goes in compost pail. But if there is something yucky, such as a meat tray/wrapper, I do put it inside another bag (same stash as compost pail liners reuse items).
I’ve been using these for a while now and don’t think they clean much in farm dirt. I now use them for lighter loads like towels or clothes that didn’t really get dirty. I also use a whole sheet instead of ripping one in half, but I figure that’s because we have hard water from our well. Then I have them stashed in my carry on for when we travel and need to do laundry. They’re super convenient to travel with.
I’ve gone back to All Free and Clear for our regular laundry. It still produces those plastic containers unfortunately. I’ve switched to getting my salad greens exclusively from Organic Girl because they say they use recycled plastic. In general we’re trying to up our usage of recycled materials whenever we can.
Our kitchen waste goes out within a day - into the garden if it’s green waste and into the hedgerow a bit away from our house (still on our property) if it’s meat scraps or anything else we don’t want in our garden. We don’t specifically compost any longer. It just decays outside lightly buried (sometimes) if in the garden. It’s similar to chop and drop with weeds.
It seems to somewhat defeat the point of composting by using a plastic liner?
We have been composting for years. When we have non-compostable “stinky trash” we put it in a small bag (typically plastic unfortunately, although usually from our cereal) and drop it somewhere close like a gas station, store, etc.
We have very little “trash” as most of it is recyclable.
We recently downsized and no longer have a composter outside so I collect it and take it to my land when I hunt. Getting ready to turn on my chest freezer so I will start freezing the compostables as they too can get a bit smelly after a few days.
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What do with Shrink wrap in your communities?
My local Waste Wizard app says to put in Trash (not the Recycle category of very many items). One of the church Earth Care group members says she saves and brings it to the grocery store box for shopping bag recycle, but not sure if that’s right.
These liners are made of compostable “plastics.”
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I’m guilty of not composting. I stopped when I’d find that the dogs would knock off the lid and I’d find my vegetable trimmings all over the yard. We do have a green waste bin that the yard waste goes in.
I try to limit my plastic wrap use. I’ve got the beeswax that I use for some uses. I also have a silicone round lid that I put over bowls when I’m marinating. I’m considering ordering a bunch of silicone lids in different sizes.
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I try to limit my use of new plastic wrap (using reusable containers or sometime reused bread bag etc). Sigh, hubby loves to use saran wrap, and I only give mild coaching since I love help stashing away the dinner leftovers.
I’m guilty of continuing to use paper napkins and paper towels. Not much concern of the waste diversion factor since accepted in our curbside compost bin. But of course there is also the save-trees factor, so I do tend to reuse my paper dinner napkin if still pretty clean at breakfast then maybe lunch. And often I’ll moisten it to wipe up kitchen floor spots before throwing into the countertop compost. In other words, I do try to use fewer paper products.
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@Colorado_mom our recycling won’t take napkins or paper towels. We don’t use many paper towels but my husband likes paper napkins. He will just use one per meal even if it’s messy, I sometimes tell him it’s ok to use a 2nd. He doesn’t like cloth napkins. I love cloth napkins and that is all I use at home. When we set the table I get a cloth and he gets a paper.
We had friends from overseas visit over the weekend and I thought it was interesting that they commented being shocked at the amount of plastic waste in the US. I knew it was really bad here but assumed it was just as bad everywhere else.
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Yea, I should point out for others reading that recycle/compost rules vary a great deal by different local program.
For those who use cloth napkins, do you change them out at each meal?
Note to anybody new to compostable bags/liners: I was happy that a friend pointed out to me that they by design will not be as strong as normal plastic bags. Especially if liquids stuff they are not so sturdy. I either carry my countertop compost pail liner carefully holding bottom (if mostly dry stuff) or carry the pail to the curbside bin and then pull out the liner and discard. Of course the other option is to have no liner and rinse the pail. That will make the curbside bin tend to get more messy, but in yard waste season it gets sopped up a bit.