Are there stacks of brown paper bags and old boxes in the corner of a room holding your recycling? We know recycling is important. But most of us don’t have a system that allows it to be a simple, nonintrusive part of our lives. Your home organization overall will improve and your day will be smoother and happier by improving your recycling system!
Getting Started: Determine the rules of the area you live in. Are you required to sort your recycling? If so look at what you use before you choose your containers. If your household produces a lot of cans and not much paper take that into account. You don’t have to the same size containers. It makes sense that you would allow more room for items you will have larger quantities of. If you are lucky enough to not have to sort your recycling, look at how much recycling you produce and decide how often you will want to empty your inside container. This will help you choose the right containers for this part of your home organization.
Label your containers once you have found a style that you have found to be functional for you. A laminated label clearly placed on your containers will help guests in your home find the appropriate container also. Having to sort recycling out of your garbage after a get together is never pleasant, avoid it altogether with labels.
You’ll need two areas, one for everyday recycling and one for infrequent use. Your everyday recycling should be kept near your garbage for ease of use. Everyday recycling for most of us includes cans, plastics, and paper. So basically, containers for items you produce daily or more frequently.
Your infrequent recycling can be stored in a room tucked further away, a mudroom for example. In this area keep the recycling that you produce very little of or that you need to take elsewhere to dispose of. Batteries, for example, need to be recycled through different venues, so don’t throw them away or put them in the recycling bins. Look while you are out many malls, libraries, or even grocery stores provide a place to deposit old batteries for recycling.
Keep a donations container with your infrequent recycling. Donating items that you no longer use or love will also help in your other home organization projects and is it is a great way to recycle.
Making Purchases: Start eliminating waste while you shop! Grocery items that are prepackaged single servings are best to pass on. These items produce a lot more recycling and waste because of the extra packaging. As an extra bonus you will save money by buying grocery items and breaking them down into individual servings yourself. Remember the more steps you do yourself the less the item will cost you. When dishing out single servings use Tupperware as oppose to disposal bags. Then you can wash and reuse the container.
Bring your own reusable bags with you to the store. This way you won’t have a growing supply of paper and plastic bags at your home. Most grocery stores provide a deposit box for plastic bags to be returned to for recycling, if you do use them. And you can reuse your paper bags to take other recycling to the curb.
Dispose of it: Make sure you are taking up the least amount of space you can with your recycling by breaking down any boxes and crushing any cans and plastic bottles. Doing this reduces the amount of space your recycling will take up in your home. If you are worried about potential smell and mess rinse out anything that held food before you crush it. When choosing containers make certain you select something that can be washed.
The functional systems in our home have a big effect on our overall home organization. Organize your recycling system today to stop this daily part of life from becoming a messy stressor!
About The Author
Heidi DeCoux owns and operates Clear Simple Marketing, which specializes in helping small local businesses (across the US and Canada) increase their bottom line through online marketing. Go to http://www.ClearSimpleMarketing.com now to get 3 FREE videos that will help you skyrocket your revenue, starting today!
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