Just because your apartment complex hasn’t gone green yet doesn’t mean you can’t. Setting up a home recycling station is an easy project that can help you make a difference in the environment and even earn a little extra cash. Follow these simple steps and you’ll have your own eco-friendly apartment in no time.
1. Chose a location to keep your recyclables.
Many recyclable materials come from the kitchen so if you have the space, this is a great room to place your recycling bins. If you don’t have room in the kitchen, a bathroom, the floor of the hall closet or a patio or balcony can all be used to house recyclables until you have time to take them to the recycling center. Though you can place your bins in different parts of the apartment, your home recycling center will work better if you designate one area to keep everything in.
2. Find your recycling bins.
Bins can be made out of anything: boxes, plastic tubs, old planters or whatever else you have lying around. If it’s possible, hit the middle “R” of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” and find things to serve as your recycling bins instead of buying them. For aluminum, glass and plastic, you’ll want to choose bins that won’t leak or line a cardboard bin well with heavy-duty plastic.
3. Set up your recycling center.
Though modern private or city-run recycling programs often accept recyclables mixed together, if you’re bringing your own items to a recycling center, chances are they’ll need to be presorted. Have a bin each for plastic, glass, paper and aluminum and other metal.
4. Start recycling.
Throwing items in the recycling bins is as easy as throwing them in the trash and much less wasteful. If you only plan on visiting the recycling center every month or so, you’ll want to rinse out containers that used to hold food so that they don’t start to smell. If you line your bins with plastic garbage bags it’ll be easy to gather up your recyclables when it comes time to turn them in.
5. Save and collect.
When your recycling bins are full, it’s time to head down to the recycling center, save the planet a little and collect a little cash. It’s certainly not a way to make big bucks but over time, your recyclables can be traded in for a nice dinner, a night out on the town or a new DVD. If you buy yourself something fun with your recycling money it will encourage you to keep up with the good work.
6. Encourage others.
Help your neighbors set up their own recycling centers. Once you have yours going, it’ll be easy to show others just how little work it really takes to be a standup citizen of plant earth. And keep nagging your apartment complex, city or county to improve their recycling programs as well. It may only take one to make a difference but to effect real change, it’s going to take the collective efforts of all of us.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/how-to-go-green-recycling.php
http://www.countryhome.com/projects/shopgirl/recycling-basics_1.html
Tell us about your recycling set up here or on Facebook!
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I was an supers’ assistant back in 2003. we had TO recycle IT for tenants. for them! NOW they have to do it them selves.aBOUT TIME! lasy ppl…
My heart sank at your admission.
It’s okay, as long as you start now. We are huge relcycers in the family. I even make sure to recycle on campus. In fact, I am pretty obsessive about it. If I saw someone I hang out with on their way to throw out a bottle into the waste basket on campus, I would just take it from them and tell them I’ll throw it out at the next recycling bin. Yes, I am that crazy. It annoys the hell out of me when students don’t even to do that on a college campus where there are recycling bins on every other corner now.The One stream recycling has been in effect for a long while now.But I do find it easier to still put all the junk papers in a brown paper bag, and then the rest just throw it all into the recycling bin. The paper fills up fast especially since recycling is every two weeks in Philly.Oh, just in case people don’t know. And I find that a lot of people still aren’t aware of this: Plastics are also included in the recyclable items. Number 2 and 3 plastics, I believe. which is practically all plastic bottles and containers. So just throw in the plastic bottles along with the cans and glass bottles.If you really want recycling bins, they are available around a few locations too.
Hi! Thanks for the great info — it can sometimes be hard to determine what is recyclable and what isn’t. And you’re right, more and more public places are starting to offer recycling bins, so going green is easier than ever! If you have any other tips for how to stay environmentally friendly, please feel free to share! Thanks again for contributing.
Julia
MyNewPlace.com
At this time it looks like Movable Type is the preferred blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?