Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Recycling vs. Trash: Time to Swap Sizes?

Five years ago, I had a standard-sized garbage bin in my kitchen and put recycling in paper grocery bags.

Two years ago, I switched to a smaller garbage bin and not only needed more recycling space, my old system didn't work because I've gone exclusively to reusable grocery bags. So I started using a big clear plastic bin for recycling bottles & cans (and just clap your hands) and used a reusable bag to collect the paper.

Today, my new apartment building does single-stream recycling, so I just use one bin for containers, paper & cardboard. My problem is that I now recycle or compost much more waste than I send to the landfill. I end up having to take out the recycling a couple of times a week, while my trash only needs to get taken out every few weeks. The composting helps get rid of most of what could be unpleasant after a few weeks, but long-term, it's not the optimal set-up.

Maybe it's time to use the bigger bin for recycling & the smaller bin for landfill?

1 comment:

Liz Miller said...

Do it like they do in Sweden, according to a friend of mine who just moved there.

They have a small bucket for landfill items, and that is picked up every two weeks.