So how exactly do I do this recycling thing?

January 25, 2018 11:42 AM

I've been a faithful (possibly obsessive) recycler for a while, but I was distressed to learn lately that my city changed recycling processing companies, and will no longer accept the blue bags, or any bagging of recycling at all.

I live in an apartment, and have to cart my items down to a recycling dumpster. Inability to bag makes things a bit more difficult for me to manage, logistics-wise. What do you all use in this case? I looked at my local grocery stores, and they don't sell larger paper bags in bulk amounts. Amazon sells them in really large bulk numbers, like for grocery stores and such. That would work, I guess, but I have limited storage space in my tiny flat. Is there another supplier that you know of? Am I missing something stupidly obvious?

My local organic store has the electronics, candy wrapper and plastic bag recycling, so I'm mainly looking at paper and simple plastics recycling here.

posted by backwards compatible to Home & Garden (21 answers total)

Best answer: I use those big blue IKEA bags to separate and carry to my local place. Works great! And reusable!
posted by mochapickle at 11:45 AM on January 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

We used to do this: Put your recycling in a bag as you have been. Bring the bag downstairs and then empty the contents into the recycling dumpster. Bring the bag back upstairs and reuse.

Another option is to use a fabric or plastic tote and make more frequent trips.
posted by muddgirl at 11:47 AM on January 25, 2018 [5 favorites]

Came into mention the blue IKEA bags mochapickle mentioned. I live in a condo and have to lug my recyclables down three flights of stairs. The blue bags do fold up so I can stick them in my backpack if I'm heading out of the house.
posted by Juniper Toast at 11:48 AM on January 25, 2018

could you just get a bucket/bin to do that? We have this one from Ikea, and it's a nice size, but the handles are sort of flimsy and fail when it's full.
posted by mercredi at 11:48 AM on January 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Whole Foods always double-bags my groceries in paper bags when I forget my reusables. If you shop somewhere that offers paper bags at checkout, maybe just do that for a few trips and you'll start building up a stockpile. I bet they would also just give you a few if you asked.
posted by LKWorking at 11:49 AM on January 25, 2018

Best answer: I use a big plastic tub to collect recycling; when it's full I carry it out and dump it into the bin. That's for plastic, glass, and metal; for paper, I use paper bags (occasionally ask for them at grocery stores; sometimes they come with takeout) and collect paper in those.
posted by gideonfrog at 11:52 AM on January 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

We used to use a plastic milk crate under the sink to collect the recycling and now we use a simple human track can plastic bin that is lined with a regular plastic trash bag but we dump it and only replace the plastic bag when it gets grody.

We also use paper grocery bags for mail and stuff that we might need - even though we use reusable bags at the store, we still end up with plenty of paper grocery sacks.

For those talking about paper bags, not sure where the poster is, but in my locale we now have to pay for those.
posted by vunder at 11:53 AM on January 25, 2018

I use a big bucket with a handle I bought at the hardware store. $4 and it will last longer than any bag, plus if stuff spills, I can just hose it out/wipe it down.
posted by AFABulous at 12:05 PM on January 25, 2018

We have weekly curbside pickup, but I prefer to do it myself at our city yard. So I use plastic trash barrels around the house to collect paper (under desks, by the front door for mail, etc.). I use doubled paper bags in one place to collect glass, plastics and metal cans (they absorb any wetness from rinsing, and then dry out without the slime you might get in plastic bags). I collect them all once a week from their various homes and put them in some reusable grocery totes that I save just for this purpose (and yes, I also sometimes use one huge IKEA blue bag for the papers). Dump them at my city yard, bring them back home, start over. I have kept the same paper bags for months until they finally wear out.
posted by clone boulevard at 12:08 PM on January 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

My town gives out vinyl reusable totes with handles, about the size of your standard paper grocery bag, that say "Recycling" on them, but they're meant for carrying the recycling down to be dumped and then reused, rather than being dumped *with* the recycling after only one use. They're definitely useful for carrying larger amounts if you're in an apartment building or a multi-family building not on the first floor, because you can just sling it over your shoulder rather than having to maneuver stairs or awkward doorways with your hands full from the tubs. They rinse clean in the shower.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 12:14 PM on January 25, 2018

It depends on how much you need to wrangle. When we needed to separate recycling (I think it was plastics, glass and paper all separately), we generally just had one recycling bin in our apartment, and sorted at the bins. Took a minute when taking out the recycling, but we just didn't have space for three bins in our apartment.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 12:27 PM on January 25, 2018

We have curbside pickup, yay! But in this cold and icy winter, I don't always get the bin down to the road. Paper, like food packages and mail, gets flattened and goes in a cereal or other package inside, near the door. Cans and bottles are rinsed and go in the recycling bin outdoors. If I take it out in wet weather, I cover the bin.
posted by theora55 at 12:35 PM on January 25, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. It seems like I was really over-thinking this. I like to take my recycling out on the way to the bus stop, but it looks like I may need to modify that habit, if I use a bucket or reusable bag. I also have to figure out some way to keep Ed the Brave Explorer Cat out of it, but that's probably a losing battle.
posted by backwards compatible at 12:43 PM on January 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

On response: you do realize this is begging for a picture of Ed the Brave Explorer Cat when you inevitably catch them red-pawed in whatever recycling solution you end up going with, right? ;)
posted by Pandora Kouti at 12:58 PM on January 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

If carrying the reusable tote's a problem, they usually fit pretty well in the bottom of a folding ("granny") cart, and you can just chuck things in there until you take it to the bin. Those carts are handy for lots of things.
posted by asperity at 1:06 PM on January 25, 2018

We use a (hard plastic, but you could use one of the nicer canvas/rattan types) laundry basket. They make them with lids, if that'll keep your cat out.

We need a picture of the cat, just to be sure.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:55 PM on January 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

I use a different Ikea tote bag and another random plastic tote bag. Yes, you don't really want to be running around all day with a recycling bag in your pocket. They get gross much less slowly than I would have thought, but, still. You'll have to come down twice. Or leave a window open and figure out how to reliably throw it through.
posted by praemunire at 2:06 PM on January 25, 2018

Response by poster: Shocking oversight on my part, I apologize. Here is a picture of Ed. It captures his personality pretty well. Thanks again, everyone!
posted by backwards compatible at 2:33 PM on January 25, 2018 [7 favorites]

Best answer: I just bag it all in a blue bag or any plastic garbage bag and carry it down to the recycle bin and dump it out in the recycle dumpster. Then I walk the plastic bag the 3 feet over to the garbage dumpster and place inside.
posted by AugustWest at 3:12 PM on January 25, 2018

If your apartment is like mine and too small to hide your recycling in a cupboard, we use these bags from the container store. They stand up on their own and look nicer than a random grocery store bag falling all over the place. We have it in two colors, one for paper and another for glass/metal/plastic so we pre-sort it as we go.
posted by hibbersk at 3:36 PM on January 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Seconding that if you wanted to buy a high-end refuse can for this, SimpleHuman with a removable liner you can take out and carry (or a bag you can re-use a while since your recycling should be clean) would be your product. Our trash can is at least a decade old, the (plastic) lid flap cracked a couple months ago, they overnighted me a new lid assembly for $20 total. It may be the nicest piece of furniture we own except for my memaw's china cabinet from the 1920s.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:26 PM on January 25, 2018