Do I look stupid to my neighbors?

I am an environmentalist and have strong feelings about reducing food waste. I came up with an idea that, though small, would impact not only my footprint but that of my neighbors.

I sent each of my neighbors a letter asking them if I could pay them each $50 a month in exchange for leftovers and food scraps that they don't intend to eat. I closed the note with an explanation of where I'm coming from and why. We all live in the same apartment building, I have a box outside of my door for people to leave the food in, and I provide Tupperware at my own expense for them to package the food.

All three responded, which I wasn't expecting, and said yes. I mostly get pizza crusts from a pair of college guys that live next to me and random vegetables from the family across the hall. I didn't expect to get much and providing incentive to do something with food waste is valuable to me itself so I'm okay with it.

However, another neighbor asked me about my "hippy" project and if he could have in. I said yes. When I dropped off the first payment, he treated me like I'm crazy. He even compared me to an ATM.

It's too late to back out. I signed a letter with each neighbor agreeing to do this for as long as we live in the building, automatically renewed if they renew their leases.

My question is, do you think I've made a reputation for myself as a crazy dude or do you think most people would just appreciate the money and not think more about it?

Attached: crusts.jpg (1632x1224, 479K)

I think the more important question is

>Why do you care what your neighbors think?

especially since only 1 out of 3 treated you odd, it seems like most of the people don't think too much about it, and the other guy didn't seem to be that mean about it either.

You just voluntarily enslaved yourself, which isn't a good idea.

If you asked me to give you scraps of food for 50$, I'd be thinking 'what the hell, weirdo.' But it's all right, we're all weird here on Jow Forums.

$50 for food scraps comes off as crazy, even though it is actually what they should be paid for their time. If you decide to flagrantly do things out of the norm, which is in my opinion great, you should expect some potential judgement and pushback.

How do you mean I enslaved myself? Thanks for your honest feedback, btw.

Thanks for the feedback

You can't back out, right? You signed a contract, and if you fail to do your part, there's a minor chance that you could get sued (out of all the things) if I understand you correctly.

Do you eat them? Wtf?

In Canada we have special food waste bins where we dispose of food waste separately from our garbage and the government makes compost out of it and gives it to farmers.

Eating other peoples food scraps is pretty gross. Why not try to start a program like the one I mentioned in your municipality?

You're paying people....to take their garbage...?

Yes, in the letter I obligated myself and agreed to pay any expenses incurred if they had to do something to get me to pay. It was what one of my neighbors required of me if he was going to take part.

It's only fresh leftovers they dont intend to eat.

How many food scraps do you need? How many will they actually give you? Maybe something like $20 or $30 is more appropriate.

That's a damn shame, get a lawyer or something to fix this if you don't want to do this.

Also, ever consider that the people you get the food from might spit in your food, or worse?

We'll, I was worried no one would respond so I offered more than maybe I should have. A deals a deal.

OP I sincerely hope they don't find ways to take advantage of you. Money+strsngers always equals a bad idea. Now that these people feel you owe them money, they're probably going to figure out ways to cheat you out of money, or get mad at you if you don't deliver, or start resenting each other if they feel one person deserves more than another, or start acting like they deserve more. Kudos to you for giving a shit about the environment, but please be careful.

So far so good, just the weird interaction where I was called an ATM.

>$50 a month each

lol you're fucking insane dude.

How much would i have had to offer you if you were one of my neighbors?

is this a troll post? Are you trolling?

You're paying $200 for garbage. Biodegradable garbage that has absolutely no fucking impact on the environment whatsoever. Food waste. What the fuck.

Do you have a compost? Do you garden? What kind of fucking retard would pay $200 a month for garbage.

Two questions:
>Are they your friends?
>If not, why do you give a damn as to their opinions of you?

That's cool user, I plan on doing some environmentalist stuff by proxy of a grander plan of living by faith when I am no longer legally binded.

You should try asking grocery stores for their 'expired' food, 'expired' food usually just tastes a little different.

Anyways God bless user, don't worry about what other people think, you're doing a good thing.

Peace and love.

Your neighbors probably just think of you as a strange guy, not necessarily stupid.

They aren't my friends. I didn't realize they were talking about me until a guy from another floor asked me about it (the most recent addition). Because of his attitude to me, it made me wonder if they thought I was stupid and that was his impression before even meeting me.

I think you're an idiot, sorry dude.

Can you tell me specifically what it is that makes you feel that way? The impression I get is the $50 but If you have a more nuanced explanation, it would be appreciated. Thank you for your feedback, btw.

>They aren't my friends.
Then don't waste your time worrying whether or not they like you/think you're weird.

Omg you’re retarded

I just don't think it makes a difference, sure it saves the environment energy, but like, isn't global warming a problem of too much thermal energy to begin with?

That, and retards being in denial because they'd have to change. We're all going to die because everyone's in "Oh, it's not a REAL problem, and even if it becomes one, some genius scientist will pull an invention out of their ass that magicks the problem away!" mode.

what are you doing with the food scraps and why would you pay so much for them?
also how is that even helpful?

The amount I'm paying is to make it worth it for them to do it in the first place. I eat the scraps and use it to supplement my groceries. I used the "dust" at the bottom of a Doritos bag that someone threw in there to flavor mac and cheese. I dip the pizza crust in salad dressing. Etc

I didn't understand this at first, but now I truly do think you're stupid. Why are you punishing yourself like this? You're literally eating garbage, and I don't think you understand how unsanitary it probably is. You have no idea how long that stuff has been sitting out, unrefrigerated and half-eaten, before they give it to you. One of these days you're going to eat the wrong thing and get really sick.

And the environmental impact is so, so tiny that you're accomplishing absolutely nothing by doing this. You're just one guy, buying slightly less for groceries, by overpaying for literal garbage. The stuff that they're throwing out is not stuff that you want to eat.

God damn dude, I could go on all day. If this is bait, you're doing a phenomenal job. If you really care about this why don't you do it on a larger scale, that would actually matter? Do you have any idea how much food gets thrown out by restaurants, bakeries & cafes? And I'm talking perfectly good untouched food, not pizza crusts and Dorito dust. You could go around to these local businesses and offer to transport their throw-aways to homeless shelters & soup kitchens, and they'd give it to you for free.

I have to believe you have some kind of fetish for self-punishment and masochism, because it's the only logical explanation for your "project."

>It's too late to back out. I signed a letter with each neighbor agreeing to do this for as long as we live in the building, automatically renewed if they renew their leases.
This has to be a bait thread. You can't be real.

Yeah, I get it though. You're giving them money for their garbage. JUst be careful pls

What the fresh hell is this?

What the fuck user?

Stupid idea, you're going to get aids from your neighbors

Sounds like a terrible idea, user. You are now paying $200 a month to reduce a little bit of food waste? At least food is biodegradable, it's not like you're reducing plastic waste. And you don't know what kind of germs your neighbors might have. Also, what if they use the extra cash to do something else that's not environmentally friendly?

Seems like you're just fucking yourself over and not actually making any difference, user, sorry...

You sound like my gf.

Wait, what? Why? What are you doing with food scraps that you'd be willing to pay $50 for them? They'll just biodegrade normally, it's not like you're going to be eating them, right? What's it matter?

I too care about environment, and I think is right and you may be misinformed.
Here are some ideas. Go vegetarian. Buy local and organic. Agriculture is a huge source of water consumption and deforestation, and chemical pollution and pesticide. Buy second-hand. No energy to produce the object or the materials. Use public transport. Less energy comsumption per passenger. Avoid packaging. The less packaging, the less waste. Even those simple personnal things will do way more for the environment than eating food garbage.
If you want to involve your neighbours, why not sharing objects with theme (less consuming), like car, tooling, appliance ?
And I'm not even talking about larger scale things like political activism, setting up second-hand and repair shops, propaganda, ect...
You should read some books about what can we do against climate change, but I don't know any in english, though.

Not fresh at all, left over

$15
I do it for free atm

Op if your only concern is what they will think about you, you already have an answer. They either think you're crazy or dellusional, like most environmentalists.
You should be worried about spending your money more wisely if you're planning to make a change, you're doing this whole thing backwards.

Oh...

You are an environmentalist, and you just paid people for garbage, that you could have taken yourself. Those people are now going to use your money to buy gas, more food, plastics, and entertainment devices. You LITERALLY paid for nothing, and impacted the environment. You are insanely retarded.

Yeah I nut to Shadbase, we're all weird.
If some guy hit me with this I'd figure he was composting. Duh. Had a buddy who'd do the same, if he didn't loathe people.

Hell yeah I would jizz and shit in some fresh chili and sell it for 50 bucks :)

I'm happy to say that over the past several months, no one has tampered with my food.

Im also glad that I posted this here as I've gotten my answer, I probably look like free money and fucked up my own goals by viewing this the way I did.

Thank you all for your honesty. I can't stop doing this but I won't add anyone to the deal.

yeah I wish OP was my neighbor

Maybe, but since they all agreed to your offer, they probably feel good about helping you out.

If your actual neighbor sent you a letter like I sent mine, would you have taken them up on it? Or are you saying this given what you know from the original post?

God you're dumb..lol

Your crazy for the contract cause it fucks you

Think hes saying 50 for leftovers is crazy your probably could've paid them less or even a donate type thing

I understand that you care about the environment. Perhaps you should have offered this for free.im assuming food scraps in the hallway is going to be a lease or apartment violation so you'll probably be evicted. Next time let your neighbors know you're going to compost and offer to take their scraps for free to help the environment. Don't offer people money for garbage.
Are you on drugs? Maybe you can say you signed this as a or as an environmental activist and get out of it.

Honestly, if my neighbor left me a letter like that I would probably call the police.