When it comes to food preparation, by the end of the meal-making process, do you find that your counters are absolutely cluttered with plastics, cans, and wrappings? Do you just leave your garbage can out, hoping that it will all fit without you having to take a break and take the garbage out in the meantime?
This is where I find that living in an organized home means finding the right home for everything. Even when it comes to recycling. Am I an avid recycler? I don’t know if I would go as far as to say I am obsessive, but when I think about how much “trash” I take to the recycling center each week, it would be another large bag that would fill up our trash can.
What are some benefits of recycling?
- Allows items that would be thrown away, to be reused, or turned into something else
- Saves the environment
- Preserves energy
- Creates jobs
- Conserves raw material
- Reduces the amount of garbage that is sent to landfills, preventing their increase in size
I understand that not all areas offer recycling. I also know that some have to pay a hefty fee in order to take care of the earth. I find that very unfortunate. Also, some centers only take certain numbers, so that plays a factor as well.
So how do you create an organized home when it comes to recycling and trash?
1. Find out whether your area offers recycling, the charge, and where the nearest drop-off location is. For example, our small town does offer recycling on Saturday mornings. We are often not home Saturday mornings, so when I am out running my errands for the week in the larger town 25 minutes away, I also take my recycling because it is always open (and free). It is not an inconvenience since I am in town anyways, and with the system I have, it takes maybe 2 extra minutes; max.
2. Figure out if recycling would actually SAVE you money. The way our trash is set up, is you can “buy” different sizes of trash cans. We started out with the smallest one, but realized that even paying a monthly fee for that size, was more than we needed because we filled it up every 2-3 weeks. That is when we realized recycling actually SAVES us money because we fill up our trash can less frequently. Then we heard about the blue bag program, where you can just put your trash in the designated bags that you can buy from the local gas station, at a 1/4 of the cost per month, for what a trash can would cost. So instead of paying $16/month for trash, we pay $13 every quarter. And it’s all because we chose to recycle and really look into what we are spending for something as simple as trash/recycling.
3. Find a recycling system that works for you. You may have seen those who bring barrels upon barrels of unsorted recycling. I almost feel sorry for them as they walk from bin to bin, separating each kind. We have a very simple system that consists of ONE rubbermaid container. I keep 3 plastic or paper bags in it each week – one for glass, one for aluminum, and one for plastics. The “paper” bag I keep in a separate location right outside of our kitchen because we are constantly recycling paper! What I love about this system (and everyone’s will look different), is that when it comes time to bringing the recycling, I just have to grab that certain bag and dump it in the appropriate container. It is quick and easy! Then the next week, I put 3 more plastic bags in the bin, to fill up again. HEre are some other ideas:
- Laundry baskets set on the floor or in a closet
- Rubbermaids with paper bags set inside to divide the different types
- Garbage can under the sink, except designate it as a recycling bin
- Bin in the garage
- Boxes
4. Make sure you know WHAT you can recycle. Like I mentioned earlier, there is a number on each item that indicates whether it is recyclable or not. At first, it may seem overwhelming, but trust me, you learn quickly and most things I find, ARE recyclable! For instance, I didn’t know we could recycle paper at first, but after looking at the options, I jumped on that because I would say that is the one item we recycle most. Just think JUNK MAIL!
Even though recycling may seem like one more thing to do, I have found that it has actually helped our home become MORE organized because I recycle things I would normally hang on to or even throw away. For example, if I have a container that I know wouldn’t be worth bringing to a thrift store, instead of hanging onto it, I recycle it! So in this instance, recycling has helped us DECLUTTER our home.
So the next time your counters are overflowing with recyclables, take the time to sort and save space and money in the process!
Do you recycle? What value do you see in recycling? How has it helped YOU have an organized home?
