When it comes to recycling, we've found you need one thing: intention. We had to get creative with a recycling station; with limited space (and a limited recycling program at our apartment complex), we managed to organize a system to keep it simple, clean, and make sure it goes out on time. Here's how.
What You Need
Materials
Assigned space for recycling
Containers of your choice
Instructions
1. Decide on a place for your recycling station. Do you want it hidden away, or easily accessible? The kitchen tends to make the most sense for a recycling station, as many of the things you'll be tossing in (cans, food packaging, and glass bottles) will originate there. If you have a kitchen pantry, try reorganizing so that you can fit bins on the floor. Or, if you have the space, you can keep your recycling station out in the the open. Is single-stream available in your area? Then consider setting up two receptacles: a small one for trash and a larger one for recycling (making the trash can smaller will encourage you to recycle more).
2. Measure your space before choosing a recycling bin option. Sound like a no-brainer? We failed to do this, being sure we could "eye it," and wound up with three bins that did not fit! So take a cue from our mistake.
3. Now comes the fun part. Browse through some of our favorite recycling bins here, here, and here. Pick something that will fit your style and also make sense to the way you do things. If you're a fan of keeping things tucked away, make sure the bins will fit in the pantry or under the sink, but they don't have to look too swanky. If you're more likely to use something if you can see it, go for something that fits your aesthetic.
4. Finally, set a schedule for this chore. If you take out your recycling every week, it won't get too full or cumbersome (paper can get heavy!). If not everything is accepted where you live, set another schedule for taking the other recyclables to a city-run recycling center. For instance, glass is not accepted at our apartment, but we can drop it off at a central location for the city to recycle.
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(Images: multiple bins: Simple Human products; recycling frame: Matteriashop; pegboards: Martha Stewart and Crown Paint; bags: Gaiam; multi-bin: Ikea)
Originally published 2010-02-09
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I think I may save up and get a couple of those Trovast bins from IKEA, the long one could double as a bench in our small entry way also and a tall one would nicely fit in the tightly packed storage room. Would be a better solution that what I'm doing now.
Luckily, we have a blue box recycling program in our region. Each box costs about $4 and once every two weeks the district takes our recycling away for us, much like garbage pick-up. Our three blue boxes are kept on the deck, just outside our kitchen for convenience. It's an excellent program that helps us cut down immensely on the amount of garbage we produce. Our three-suite building with seven residents only puts out three to four garbage cans every two weeks. We are allowed to put out six.
That wire frame for the paper bag looks great! Where is it from? I use paper shopping bags as my recycling bin. That way, the whole bag just gets dumped.
Paper and plastic bottle recycling bins are right outside the grocery store, which is right down the street from me. I, er, kill two green birds with one stone by putting my paper and bottles right in the canvas bags I take with me to the grocery store to save on bottles. Now I never forget either! I keep the bags hanging on the wall to make it all easy on myself.
The orange, grey, and blue bags are from DWR and I got them a couple of years ago. They don't hold the shape as nicely as the image depicts- they just look sad and messy after a while.
nicolac - The recycling frame is by Matteriashop. The products are listed under the "Submit your own..." link - a bit frustrating to find the source since it's not listed out like it usual.
Re-nest posted this in November (http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/recycling-donating/recycling-frame-from-matteriashop-100458). It's a bit pricy for a wire frame.
"Our three blue boxes are kept on the deck, just outside our kitchen for convenience."
Hey me too! Nice to have curbside recycling because we live in a tiny place and I wouldn't have room for a "recycling station" in my house.
I didn't think I had room for a "recycling station" in my house, but I do... on my kitchen wall. I use 3 three black TRONES shoe storage boxes from IKEA - they're only about 7" deep and the plastic bin door comes right off so you can empty it out (and clean them) easily. Plus, they were cheap and they keep everything off the floor, but accessible and neat.
This is really great. I know just about everyone wants to recycle more, but its not always practical. Taking the time to set up something like this I think would really streamline the process and make it more encouraging to be consistent with recycling. If only there were a way to streamline scrap metal recycling. You should see my garage.
Just this weekend my fiancé and I noted that we needed to add on to our mini-recycling station in our office to complement our main set up near the garage. We have to separate plastic film from our other recyclables, and all of these little bits of plastic wrap were floating around our office waiting to make it downstairs. Just by designating a separate container in the office for those little bits, it's helped us be more tidy and efficient.
I up-cycled four of our old storage tubs into a recycling center by stacking them in the corner... I cut large flat slit for paper, a large round hole for cans & glass and a larger rectangle for plastics... seems to work great!