How do you organize your recycling?

[mamica]

I need to set up a recycling station to make it easier, more efficient, and more organized for us to recycle. We don't have a lot of room to work with, but I've been doing some cleaning/reorganizing that I think has helped clear out enough space for something. Right now, we don't really have a system and some things get recycled and some recyclables just don't out of convenience. Can you describe any systems you have in place or even post a photo?

Thanks in advance!

[elektra]

In our office we have a metal bin on wheels that we use mostly for paper.
Then in a skinny cabinet with have an elfa system from the container store that has 4 skinny but fairly deep drawers. this we use for kitchen/food recycle items. We then empty them all out into our big recycle container outside once a week before trash/recycle pick up day.

[HIU8]

Our county does paper recycling and #1 and #2 plastics only. They provide you with bins for this purpose. After each meal, and when we finish with a product, it gets taken to the garage where the bins are. Once a week they do pickup. I wish they did more recycling here, but they don't.

[caleymama]

We don't have a recycling center set-up, but here's what we do:

In our kitchen pantry are 2 32 qt Rubbermaid wastebaskets (no lids) - one is for bottles & cans (they get taken back to the store maybe once a month or so) and one is for curbside recycling: 1 & 2 plastics, glass, metal. Our curbside p/u is on Mondays so on Sunday nights we dump the contents into the curbside bin provided by the town (it stays in the garage or by the driveway).

For paper we just use a paper grocery bag. One bag a week is just about right. That stays under the "desk" area of our kitchen counter - it's open under there with space for a chair but b/c of where it's situated we don't keep a chair there. We also break down any corrugated cardboard and stand it up next to the paper grocery bag under the same counter desk area. If we have really big pieces of cardboard, we'll just put them in the garage right away to await pick-up, instead of keeping them in the house. Again, this all goes to the curb on Sunday nights in preparation for Monday's pick-up. For us, paper recyclables have to be in a paper bag and the corrugated cardboard is supposed to be broken down, stacked, and tied up with string/twine.

[cono0507]

Under our kitchen sink we have three identical cans - one for garbage, one for paper recycleables and one for glass and plastic. Once those are full, they get depostied in the large bins in the garage.

Our town collects pretty much all paper, plastic and glass and it doesn't need to be sorted, so it is quite easy for us.

[elliput]

I just got this set up going last month. The bins were purchased at Sears Suncast 18 gl bin (http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00968231000P), the silver hamper is from IKEA.

The silver hamper is used for 1 & 2 plastics and metal cans. I can drop these items off at recycling points around town. There is one located at the grocery store close to my house.

The other bins are for- misc numbered plastics, glass, magazines/catalogs, office paper, and mixedpaper/junk mail. The mixed paper/junk mail also gets cereal boxes/cardstock weight. This stuff all gets taken to a private recycling center. I can also take heavy cardboard, phone books, newspapers, and plastic grocery bags as well as some batteries, toner cartridges, etc.

The TRU bag is for aluminum cans. I reuse the large plastic bags for this purpose. Hopefully someday, DH will take the 5 or so bags of aluminum in for cash.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m187/elliput/001-2-1.jpg

[rlu]

We're not organized.

We save alum cans, CA CRV, and yogurt containers for personal recycling (we redeem for cash). Initially the items are cleaned and thrown in a paper bag under the sink. When it starts to get full DS stomps everything and we sort the CA CRV into a large garbage bag and the yogurt containers out into a big plastic bag (like pp's TRU bag) both of which are kept in a huge garbage can (with lid) in the backyard. The crushed cans return to the paper bag. DH collects cans and plastic bottles from/for his Optimist group (kept in the truck), so when they have enough to justify the gas to go, we go to the recycle place and DS redeems our personal stuff as his "found" money that he gets to spend on things (currently for tball or soccer class).

Our waste company does mixed recycling, so everything destined for the weekly curb pickup goes into a paper bag on the tea trolley in our kitchen. When this bag gets full it gets dumped into the outside bin and we reuse the paper bag until it tears. It falls over sometimes, so I tend to take glass directly out to the bin. Any paper with our address or personal info goes to the shredder which is under our kitchen table (DS helps here as well). The shred is put out for recycling when it gets full.

The pp system with picture is great - put a picture of each item on the appropriate bin and DC could help even if they can't read yet.

[o_mom]

We recycle plastics #1 & 2, aluminum, steel, glass and paper. Everything but the paper is put in the same bin (we drive it ourselves, no curbside). We have two large Rubbermaid containers with lids - the 18 gallon roughneck totes. They sit in our garage on top of a set of plastic shelves right next to the door so we don't even have to step outside to put stuff in them. We start out with them nested. When one is full, we put the lid on and then stack the second one on top. When I use something that gets recycled I rinse it and set it by the sink. Every day or two I chuck them in the bin outside. We fill about one per week or slightly less, so Dh takes them about every 3 weeks.

Paper I have a wooden rack that is about the size of a newspaper and I just stack them up in there. It gets emptied the same time as the bins and rarely is it full - even less now that I only get the Sunday paper.

[tylersmama]

I technically don't have to sort my recyclables since I drop them at a single-stream recycling station, but I've found that it makes it a lot more efficient and I can store more before I have to do a recycling run. I bought three stackable plastic recycling bins from the Container Store. The bottom one is for newspaper and other (non-bulky) papers that stack up nice and flat. I use the top one for all the assorted glass, aluminum, and plastic bottles and tubs. The middle one is kind of the catch-all, where I put the odd-shaped things like flattened cardboard cereal boxes, smashed milk jugs, etc. If I have anything large (like an empty laundry detergent bottle) I have a small plastic trash can next to the bins that I throw that stuff in, just so I remember it's there and it's not sitting in the middle of the floor. For our family of two, I typically have to make 1-2 runs a month to empty the bins.