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Love this! Two full-size cans
Here are a couple of ideas of how to make recycling easy. Put the ones that will work for you into action today!
- After a shopping trip, but before you go around putting things away, remove all the excess packaging while standing by a recycling bin
- Place a couple of recycling bins in rooms or areas of the house that seem to generate a fair amount of recyclables. The kitchen is the obvious choice for most of us but consider these areas:
- Family bathroom – for all those empty toiletries and Kleenex boxes (at least in my allergy-filled life there are always empty boxes!)
- Laundry room or entry area – makes dumping junk mail and emptying backpacks fast
- Home office – for the “paperless” office we all have!
- Basement – if you have a family room here, having garbage and recycling bins on this level will make cleaning up more convenient (and it will be more likely to be done by your kids!)
- Start a big box in the basement or garage for odd items that cannot be recycled curbside. This way when the big recycling events start in the spring, you’re ready with your junk!
- Forget the fancy recycling centers designed to separate materials. Most curbside recycling is commingled so don’t waste your time sorting. Just separate garbage from all recyclables.
- Remember to gather up the garbage AND the recycling bins from around the house on garbage day.
One side note: I encourage you to consider donating working items rather than recycling them. Why not pass items along to those who need them, get a tax credit AND someone will come to your door and pick it up?? What a great deal! Not sure who will come to your house? Try Donation Pick Up Service and Donation Town first. Once you’ve donated to one of local charities, they’ll keep in contact with you.
How do you make recycling easier in your home or office? Have you found a great source for taking some odd items that the garbage service doesn’t take? Please share with the group!
If there is something you’d like to recycle but don’t know where, ask me here and I will try to find a place. I have an extensive list of recycling and donation options on my website, so check there first.