Start by creating a recycling center, a designated area where you can store your recyclables until they can be picked up.
If your community comingles their pick up, you can designate one barrel to put your clean recycling in, with a side container for newspaper.
If your community requires you to separate you recycling, don't worry, it's easy. Just go to you local recycling center and ask them for a print out of their procedures. It will tell you how to separate your recycling, and all you will need is a container for each group of items that can be recycled together.
You can purchase cheap and colorful bins with handles at Walmart or most home products stores, and they don't have to be expensive. You can even use a number of empty boxes, but if you do, put large plastic bags inside them to keep the boxes from getting damp on the bottom and breaking.
Here is how to recycle what they don't pick up at the curb or allow you to bring to your recycling center:
With only 7% of plastic being recycled in 2009, try to take the extra steps to recycle those plastics which typically get thrown out with the trash:
#4 Supermarket plastic bags, many shopping plazas collect them at the front door (Walmart, Market Basket, Trader Joe's, Stop and Shop, Target, Rite Aid, CVS and many others: more than 12,000 locations nationwide collect these bags)
#5 Plastic stamped #5, including medicine bottles, yogurt type containers, flip top caps on squeeze jars, can be dropped off at Gimme 5 locations nationwide including WholeFoods.
#6 Polystyrene #6 like styrofoam cartons , meat trays, molded styrofoam for shipping, packing peanuts, cups plates and utensils can be recycled locally. Go to Earth911.com, type in #6 and your zip code or EPSPackaging.org for styrofoam packaging. They will direct you to local drop off centers. Mail Boxes Etc, and The UPS Store will take clean packing peanuts.
No # Candy Wrappers, Potato Chip Bags, Juice drink pouches, Pens, Cookie Packages, Tape dispensers, and glue bottles, Check out Terracycle.net: they organize programs to collect these items and they donate 2 cents or more to charity or school of your choice.
This information is Courtesy of Environmental Defense Fund Vol. 43, No.1 / Winter 2012
