apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

love it!!!!

they're trying something like this on my campus. not sure how it's going though.

Hi, this is an interesting column. I feel like I am reading 6 years in my own past. I live in Ontario, Canada and I am an advid recycler. Our university went through the exact same transition that yours is going through today. We started with recycle bins for the campus and for individual students. It was a disaster; peaple would throw anything into the container (it had a lid on it, which was not good).
We tried to identify which containers took what meterial, based on what we recycled in our area. It still didn't work.
What we found was when you use a "bin" or "container" it's very easy to cheat the system, and by having this type of system in place, we never got to any recycling goals worth mentioning.
To make a long story short, we found this product called Create-Some-Space recycle and trash bag hanger which hangs a clear or see- through blue bag (which is itself recyclable as film plastic) directly on the wall. This proved to be key in obtaining the results which we are proud of today: 66% to 70% of recyclable material diverted from landfill!
The change in attitudes toward recycling were noted because we used recyclable see-through bags. Students would identify the dirty green bins as "garbage container." But when the clear bag hanging off the wall was introduced, people associated this with recycling and were also aware of the fact that the material inside the bag would be exposed for anybody to see. This made the students more conscious about cheating the system.
The change in attitude was amazing and I've personally thanked the people at Create-Some-Space for coming up with this solution as it saved face for a program that I was implementing.
It also saved space while making it easy for people to recycle. Plus, no bins to carry around or to clean! I would suggest that you contact them as they are involed with school recycling programs no matter what grade you in.

Bev

Interesting. I've lived in Buenos Aires, and never saw a single recycling bin. There are cartoneros, who rip apart garbage bags left on the street to take out cardboard and paper (yes, this does make for a lot of trash on some streets). Though, BA does make people pay deposits for bottles, and they are reused by the drink manufacturers.

Regina, you may have the timeline backwards. According to an Argentine source, the vacatacho started in England (which makes more sense, with the link you give) and was supposed to be introduced in Argentina in late 2006. The Artmongers site also says they started the cowbins in the U.K. and subsequently set up a company in Argentina to bring their work there. (Perhaps the confusion is that one of the Artmongers was born in Argentina?)

The linked article also attributes the 61% increase in recycling to the London bins, not to Argentine cowbins.