apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I just noticed yesterday that the Nature Mill came out with a smaller version: http://www.naturemill.com/
So now I'm considering that.

Right now I'm lucky enough to be the only apt on this floor so I have 3 kitchen-size trash bins for recycling sorting in my hallway: paper, cans/cartons/plastic, non-city accepted plastic to bring to the co-op. (My regular trash bin is in the kitchen and a pretty small office size one.)

I usually try to put my compost-in-waiting in the freezer but the more I order raw food for my cats, the more this is backfiring b/c my freezer is full of cat food, hence my willingness to try the Nature Mill mini. I have tried worm bins 2x but both times it ended in a horrible unintended red wriggler genocide.

My roommates and I have to sort recyclables and we end up with quite a few categories: paper, magazines, plastic bottles, glass, aluminum, cardboard, and plastic bags. These are kept in filing-type boxes in a 2x4 Ikea Expedit and bagged and emptied to the communal sorted recycling for our building on an as-needed basis.

We're at different levels of commitment for recycling -- one does when it's easy, one does all the time, and then there's me, known to haul bags of recyclables home from events that lacked recycling. Putting it in the dining room, but hidden, makes it accessible, easy, and not unpleasant to look at.

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I use the SORTERA bins from Ikea. You can stack them, yet always have access due to the folding lid and they look neat.

KITCHEN: Two square kitty litter buckets under the sink--one for glass, one for all other recyclables. I need to add a third one for the plastic tubs that curbside won't take but that Wild Oats will, since I find that I just toss these in the trash when I don't have an easy place for putting them to recycle later. (Plus one medium-ish traditional trash can for nonrecyclables.) I also keep a plastic canister-style jar on my counter for compost.

LIVING ROOM: Trash can by the front door for paper recycling--junk mail, newspapers, etc.

BATHROOM: Two trash cans, one for trash and one for bathroom recyclables, like TP rolls and empty shampoo bottles.

I've been looking for decent recycling bins and hadn't thought to check IKEA. Target and Lowes both have similar options, but I can't get them in a store near me. If I have to order online, it looks like IKEA is the way to go.

We had two boxes (about the same size as the wicker ones in the photo) and we put them outside on the deck. They are good for us because the big recycling bin is in on the other side of the house, on the driveway.

We also use some of those wall-mounted bag storage containers to reuse plastic bags as much as possible. They were a good idea, but I think the ones we got were too small so they don't deserve a slink.

Each room has its own paper recycling can.

I have a bin about the size and shape of one of those big popcorn tins people sometimes get in offices at the holidays. Everything goes in there. When it's full, I separate into different bags (rather than having a bin for plastic, paper, cardboard, glass, etc) and take them out to the trash.

One solution to this whole mess is to create minimal amounts of trash to be recycled. For instance I notice Trader Joe's circulars in one of the photos -- don't take those home in the first place!

In our town (Seattle), glass is separate from all other recycling. We have an older (blue) version of Ikea's Rationell, I think, to sort our general recycling and glass--two tallish buckets in a sliding holder that in one of the cabinets under our sink. Easy to slide out, easy to take the buckets out and put 'em back in. Works great.

Our trash goes in a can elsewhere in the kitchen.

Seattle also has a yard waste and food scrap composting program. Right now it's by subscription, but in the next few years it'll become mandatory. Didja notice that our town has met or exceeded its goals in the Kyoto protocol? This is part of meeting the next set of goals.

Our household does subscribe to yard waste service and occasionally food scraps get in there, when there's a big bunch all at once--like a pizza takeout box, or a big armload of corn husks. But we don't have a system set up for routinely getting food into the compost bin, and I'm wondering what we're going to do in our small kitchen.
I'm all for being green and I love my green city, but I am also a little hesitant about this one...we have fruit trees in our yard, and end up with a fairly significant fruit fly issue every summer as they inevitably wander inside. I don't want 'em all year round!

I might take a page from bohemiangirl and dedicate one of those square buckets w/lids from the kitty litter to be our "holding tank"...Right outside the back door, probably get emptied into the yard waste bin every day or two. Better stock up on the citra-solv spray to try to keep that thing clean!

We have a pantry in the kitchen with ample space below the last shelf, and in it we tucked three old milk crates. Paper (lined with a paper bag from the grocery), returnables, and glass/plastic go in those.

It seems silly to buy a whole new thing for the purpose of recycling. If you look around your house you've got boxes or sturdy bags or something that doesn't require a trip to Ikea. Like that case of beer you drank? It came in a cardboard box - it can leave in a cardboard box.

I have a very small ("bathroom-size") trash can (with lid) under the sink. Also under the sink is a small plastic bin for containers and a paper grocery sack that holds paper/cardboard (we have dual-stream recycling). I also taped our city's recycling guidelines inside the cabinet door, so I know how to prepare batteries, etc. for curbside pickup. If you keep the containers small, you can fit them all out of the way. You do have to take out the trash/recycling more often, but I don't know, I think that's probably a good thing! I also keep the blue bin on the front porch to deposit junk mail into directly, so it doesn't come inside.

And by the way...Trader Joe's mails those circulars out to every home (at least around here) - I doubt the writer is bringing them back from the store just for fun!

How does TJ's get your address?

If you can get off the mailing lists of the catalog companies, I'm sure you can get off theirs.