Newbie needing recycling advice/tips

tbearsangel

Hey there,

 I am a regular over at The Knot, and I lurk around The Nest every now and then. Consider this my intro post, if you need one!

I have looked for some topics regarding this and haven't found any yet, so my question is this, I am looking to start a 'recycling center' at my home with bins for glass, plastic, paper, etc. I have a big green bin with separated compartments in a parking lot of a (somewhat) local grocery store 10 miles away that I can take my items to, but there isn't really a 'center' with people or restrictions that I can tell. I am trying to get some ideas for what works, isn't messy, and anything else I might want to know before I undertake this endeavor.

I already take any newspaper, magazines, and phone books to a local semi trailer that recycles by weight and gives the proceeds to local boy scouts and such, but I am looking to reduce my waste more.

 Thanks in advance for anything you can help me out with!

 

sunshine_day_dreams

The first thing I would do is look on your local city or county website to try and find regulations for what you can recycle.  Just because something has the number on the bottom doesn't mean that it's recycled everywhere.  That will help you with determining what can go and what can't.

 We are lucky enough to have curb-side recycling so I don't have to deal with transporting stuff in my car.  If you're going to have to do that, I would recommend making sure you always wash your containers out  and flip them upside down for a couple of hours or so on a towel to get all the water out.  You might want to find a container with a lid to transport items as well.

 As far as how to reduce your waste more - you'll have to kind of look at your house and see where your waste is coming from.  For us, it was reducing food and packaging waste.  My FI had a horrible habit of going to the grocery store once a month and buying HUGE amounts of food, and then it would go bad before he ate it.  Things like going to the grocery once a week and eating everything you buy cuts down on food waste.  Buy foods with minimal or no plastic packaging and recycle what you can.

You can also google (because I can't remember the sites off the top of my head) for companies to help you stop junk mail.  That was another pretty big waste reducer for us.

Alisha_A

Welcome! Wow, that's awesome you are trying to recycle more without a curbside recycling program! I am so spoiled and have had curbside recycling since...well pretty much high school (and I'm in my 30's).

I would check with whoever is handling the large bin in the parking lot to find out restrictions. At some point it is going to a processing center and they vary on what they can process. Usually this is marked on the large bin (the name of the service).

There are some various sorting bins for sale -- google recycling sorters and that'll give you a start (some are more industrial but there are home ones too), but you could also just use stacked organizing drawers like these

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/chicago/sorter080108.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/green-ideas/small-space-solutions-space-saving-recycling-ideas-popular-mechanics-058371&h=496&w=540&sz=85&tbnid=3YpCqwAXVBfKIM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drecycling%2Bsorter&hl=en&usg=__NlLcggCxbEkj1R5Fi29rGUeyNFM=&ei=fMNUS7CWK4LcsgPt-vH_Bw&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=8&ct=image&ved=0CC0Q9QEwBw

I have comingled recycling and am single so I basically just have a bin in the laundry room I toss everything in and occassionally take out to the ginormous (96 gallon!) bin.

Jen&Joe06

Would it be easier to separate everything in reuseable bags to take over to the grocery store?