apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have a little galvanized steel tub (the size for icing party drinks) in my tiny kitchen. I toss recycleables in there and take it to the bin when it's full.

The garbage is in a can under the sink.

I'm taking out equal amounts garbage to recycling these days. Wish I could compost.

BF lives in a new place - there is a pull out cabinet in the kitchen with both a trash bin and recycle bin.

I have been looking for a storage bench that I can put recycleables underneath and then people can sit on it when the top flips down.

I live in an apartment building that doesn't have recycling options but now that blue bins have made their way to Albany Park, I put smaller items in various bins around the hood. Is that bad...?

Where can I get that white recycling bin pictured? That would be perfect for our space I think - now we just used paper grocery bags...

thevioletpear: You can get those at the container store.

http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=70654&PRODID=10018712

We keep ours in paper grocery bags under the sink; we take them out when they fill up. They're easy to move, recyclable, and keep the load manageable!

I got some great bags at Design Within Reach.

http://www.dwr.com/product/tools/recycling-bags-set-of-4.do?search=basic&keyword=recycle&sortby=ourPicks&page=1

We don't have recycling at my apt. I bag recyclables you can trade in for money separately and put them next to our dumpster for the homeless guy who digs through it for cans and bottles. It's my compromise, as I'm far too lazy to take my recycling in myself, but I can't just throw recyclables away either.

i recycle and have bins in my kitchen, but they're very visible and overstuffed and irksome. also, i have a garbage can pull-out under the kitchen sink but it's also becoming a pain.

so! i have pre-ordered this from organize.com (you gotta call them...)

http://www.organize.com/3-compartment-recycling-bin.html

i had been looking for a 3-part trash can forEVER.

Well when I saw the picture of the white and yellow bin from the Container Store, I got excited - but then I clicked on the link and saw the price...wow! A little too pricey.

We moved recently and are now able to recycle (hooray!) and for now are using paper grocery bags. I plan to just get a smaller, inexpensiver trash can for the recyclables and just put it next to the trash where the grocery bags are now.

I also follow theresaclare's method. I keep a paper grocery sack next to the garbage can in my kitchen and separate there. Once it's full, I take it out back to the large blue recycling bins.

We have two of these side-by-side, one for trash and one for recycling. In real life they are a lot prettier (if I can say that about a trash can). My favorite thing is that I can sanitize the lids by putting them in the dishwasher! Yes I am neurotic.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=107950&COL=52&RN=1020&

In the Blue Bin which we keep on the landing. Works great as the landing is literally 5 ft from the kitchen sink. In that Blue Bin we keep the two bags for paper recycling-one for newspapers, the other for magazines, cardboard etc.

we have a communal room in our building where we differentiate metal/plastic, glass, paper, and general wated.

Before it gets there, it stays in my home:

Plastics & tins go under hte sink in a plastic bag (so it can all be recycled together).

Paper goes in a paper shopping bag next to the desk/kitchen table/wherever its needed, and the entire thing gets recycled.

Glass is put under the sink

when one is full, it gets tossed out on my next trip outside.

Paper/cardboard gets flattened out and stacked on top of our kid's play kitchen until we bring it to the recycling room. Plastic and glass (jars, not broken) get put in the Duane Reade shopping bag in the broom closet, and carted to the recycling room when it's full.

Ours stays in a metal trash can next to the kitchen counter. When the can is full we take it to the garage for bagging and sorting and the final trip to the recycling center which is mercifully only two minutes from the house.

We hold recyclables in brown paper bags in a spare room until we have a full load. Then we drive the stuff to a recycle collection place. Wish we had curbside pickup; that'd be really nice.

We've got a recycling bin that we wheel out with the trash bin. Due to yard constraints, it stays in the garage. I haven't found a way to keep things in the kitchen, so I just make a little pile on the edge of the kitchen counter and take the stuff out to the garage when I'm going that way. No need to sort our stuff - it all goes in the same bin and the waste co. sorts it for us.

our town doesn't have a recycling pick up system like trash day which is so dumb. we just drive to the town over to recycle.

I used some HUGE regular trash bins outside that i would put paper, cardboard, and tin together and the other plastics, ect. BUT when i got back from college my dad has been using those trash bins for yard clippings(my parents are too lazy to recycle anything but soda cans... yes, its angered me since childhood) so we usually just hang bags on the bottom cabinets in our kitchen and when they get full I take 'em out to my car and leave them in the trunk till its gets Full to make one trip.

We also have Blue Bin recycling. Since we do most of our shopping at Trader Joe's, we have them pack the groceries in the nice handled brown paper bags. We keep a bag for recyclables next to the trash can in the kitchen, and when it's full, we bring it to the bin and toss the whole thing in - the bags are recyclable too, and super easy to carry with the handles. Then there's nothing to clean out and no extra plastic generated like a reusable bin.

The Blue Bin recycling is fantastic. We've only had it in our ward for a month and we feel like we've already saved a ton of money and emissions by not making our weekly run to the recycling center.

I save my paper for recycling with the local public library (they earn money from it), so I have paper collection bins in two rooms. They're smallish wire mesh, forcing me to empty them regularly. I don't like to live with my trash. Then I collect it in my garage until I have a trunk-ful to drop off.

All other recycling is cleaned and collected in the second bin of a roll-out trash can system under my kitchen sink. I like the model I have because it has a lid to control the garbage smell; it took me years of searching to find it. This is a small bin that is emptied every week into the larger city container. Unfortunately, this city container isn't wheeled, so I have to lug it down to the curb. It's heavy when it's full of glass!

For paper - I use one of the drawers of my console table in my entryway. It's a great way of immediately sorting through junk mail and putting the paper somewhere out of sight. When the draw is full I empty it out for paper recycling. Now only if I can get my messy boyfriend to use the same system. *sigh*

For cans/glass/plastic - Depending on how productive I feel. I either take it out right away or it unfortunately sits on my kitchen counter visually reminding me to take it out the next morning. I need a better system.