I just think it's funny that many of my friends are horrifed that I throw away "perfectly good" egg yolks, yet the same people are just as horrified (or think I'm some weird fanatic) because of other things I do that avoids waste.
Things like: eating parts of vegetables that many people throw away cabbage and pineapple core, celery leaves, beet, turnip tops, pea tendrils (young leaves and shoots of edible pea plants), onions and potatoes that have sprouted (cutting around the eyes, or using the "sprout" off of a sprouted onion just like I would a green onion), cutting the mold off of hard cheese and eating the "good part," cutting off bruised or spoiled sections of fruit, throwing out only the moldy ones in a package of berries or grapes... Making "dump soup" out of leftovers, rinsing jars and bottles to use every last bit of a jarred or bottled product (ketchup, barbecue sauce, spaghetti sauce). Reusing ziploc bags, using the vinegar from pickled peppers and other pickled vegetables in my homemade salad dressings, using hot water to disolve the the last bit of jam in a jar (say to mix with mustard for a pretzel dip). Cooking wilted vegetables as a way to use veggies that are still good for cooking, but not so good to eat raw.
I have a friend that is freaked out that I'll cook salad greens (in soup) or stir fry cucumbers (they're much like zucchini cooked).
I find it ironic that people will buy "reuseable" shopping bags from stores for $2 each (made from material that is so thin, it's going to wear quickly and looks like they may not survive laundering), when sturdier canvas tote bags that can go in the washer and dryer are avaialbe for 25 to 50 cents at the local thrift stores and garage sales. Buying the used canvas totes saves far more resources and landfill space (but it does require an extra trip, and is less likely to be the result of an impulse buy).
It's just that SOME types of waste are socially acceptable and seen as normal and ok, and others aren't. And that's as true for me as anyone else.
For me, it's a lot harder to throw out a book than an egg yolk. We have a "system" in our house for anything that could be sold at a thrift store. We take everything to a consignment shop (that pays us 50% of the selling price) and anything they reject goes to our church's charity thrift store. We buy used whenever we are able to.
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