That is a very interesting observation (below).

Martha's Vineyard, where I reside, is an island of about 100 squire miles, most 
of it either privately-owned rural land or state forest. As most of our income 
comes from tourism, it wouldn't do to have giant piles of garbage about (or to 
give over the state forest for trash dumps). So all of our trash is carted off 
on the ferry. (Those garbage trucks are smelly. You don't want to get stuck 
behind one on the boat if you're taking your car off-island.)

We dutifully separate our garbage from our recyclables, but a few years ago 
there was a minor scandal when some citizens investigated & discovered that all 
the at-home  separating we were doing was coming to naught, because the garbage 
haulers were combining what we had separated. After a public outcry, the 
garbage haulers (who have a contract from the local government) promised to not 
combine any more.

At my house, we have a compost bin and put all of our vegetable tailings in it. 
We use the compost in our gardens.

One problem we struggle with is rats. They have eaten through the thick plastic 
compost bin we have. (Our compost bin is 20 yards behind our house; our garbage 
bins are 20 yards in front of our house. Whether we put wet garbage in the 
front or the back, it's likely to attract rats.)  I was just thinking about 
this problem yesterday. I think I may build a compost bin out of brick or 
stone, with some kind of metal lid. Aeration & drainage might be problems, but 
I would gladly trade the rat problem for the drainage/aeration problem. 

jrs


On Sep 1, 2012, at 4:34 AM, SS wrote:

> It is high time Bangaloreans need to understand that garbage is an
> individual responsibility and not someone else's problem. I am actually
> happy to see piles of stinking garbage building up. People need to swim
> in their garbage while blaming others until everyone understands.

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