Clean and recycle my backlog of take-out containers (part 2)

Post mortem:

I made some progress on my backlog, but of course didn’t get nearly as far as I would have liked. After reflecting on it, I feel I learned a few things over the course of the month:

• While seeing the fridge empty for the first time in a long time was definitely nice, starting the DK30 with a difficult first task really killed my energy and momentum for the following weeks. Perhaps I should have split this first task across two weeks instead, or tried to maintain a consistent pattern of only washing one item a day, rather than spending two-plus hours cleaning everything on a single shelf on each day of the weekend.

• Not knowing when my apartment complex empties the recycling bins is a major hindrance. There were times when the plastic I had cleaned was taking up so much counter space I struggled to find a place to put my dishes after eating, but I couldn’t take the plastic down to the recycling room because the bins there were overflowing. This was exacerbated by the fact that the people who were supposed to empty the bins were apparently on strike in February, meaning the bins often weren’t empty on days when they normally would be. Having to wait to empty my recycling sometimes meant I’d miss the opportunity to do it on a day when I had the energy, and then had to wait multiple days until I both had the energy and the bins had been emptied. And having no free counter space kept me from doing more cleaning while I waited. The one thing I can do about this is ask my apartment when they expect the recycling bins to be emptied each week. They’ve told me in the past, but it seems the answer has likely changed.

• Rewarding myself for getting a difficult recycling task done gets me into a bad habit of unhealthy eating, which kills my productivity and energy. I need to be more careful and cognizant about when I reward myself and how much, especially during the winter.

• Making progress on my backlog is only part of the problem. Keeping up with new recyclable items is also part of it (although this can be moderated through informed choices in what I consume).

• I should try to keep up a consistent pace of cleaning one item per day to make regular progress and avoid getting burnt out or overwhelmed by feeling like I have to do everything at once.

Week 4:

I was able to clean the drink containers and take them down to the recycling room in two trips (walking up and down 10 flights each time). The microwavable containers continue to haunt me, but the counter top is finally accessible once again.

Week 3:

I’ve been generating other things to recycle, and had to prioritize cleaning those to free up space on the counter top. I made no progress on the microwaveable containers, but was able to catch up on the newest recyclable items, as well as take them down to the recycling room in two trips (walking up and down 10 flights each time).

Week 2:

I’m still exhausted from the cleaning I did in week 1, and have been fearing the cleaning I set out for myself this week to the point that I was unable to make myself do any of it. However, I was able to make two trips down to the recycling room (walking up and down 10 flights each time) to drop off the plastic I cleaned last week.

Week 1:

It took several multiple-hour cleaning sessions over the weekend, but my fridge is now empty for the first time in over a year. Besides containing grease and the occasional food remnant, the containers in the fridge had some of the most inconsistent shapes of the bunch, which made them especially difficult to clean thoroughly.

I’m thinking I’d like to set myself an easier, less time-consuming, less exhausting goal for the second week.