Recycling Fever

With Faythe's most recent en devour at her school, I think it's time we all implemented some new recycling techniques at home. For many, I've been told, the idea of recycling is a bit overwhelming. It seems like a ton of added effort and many times it's hard to make the distinction in your mind that each and every bottle, can, etc. is worth that effort. So, put together a system that works for you. I'll go ahead and tell you how I've done things, but make sure you do it at your home in a way that reduces the amount of effort it takes for you to recycle. The easier it is for everyone in your home, the more likely they will be to participate.

For the longest time I kept all of my recycling bins outside. I'd have a small bag in the kitchen that I'd fill with recyclables and when it was full I'd go out and sort it. Not only was this small bag always over flowing, it made my kitchen look messy all the time. Half the time my dear husband would end up just throwing it all away, rather than dealing with it. There had to be a better way. Then, I moved here to Germany where we had no choice but to find a solution!
I've now got several small trash cans lining one area of my kitchen. One is for food trash, quickly degradable things. The next bin is for regular trash, the items I can't recycle and aren't food. Next is my recyclables. I combine all my tins, foils, and plastics because it is removed all together. Lastly, is my paper. I've color coded each can either by the bag I put in it or the can itself, so even my 3 yr old can figure out exactly where each item should go.

My kitchen is fairly small, but with these neatly lined up cans the room doesn't seem cluttered with recycling or trash as it once did. It's also already sorted for me. I don't have to sort everything once I take it outside. Top it off, I'm no longer going behind the children to dig out of the trash all the items that should have been recycled. I've found this to be a whole lot less time consuming and frustrating for every member of my family; but, like I said, develop a system that works for your family. And please do let us know what works for you! Happy green living!