Home Recycling

Velvet Vocals

Not that I'm new to home recycling or anything.... I've always tried to be conscious of what I'm throwing away and stuff. But I don't always do it, sometimes I just chuck everything in the bin because I'm tired or lazy or whatever. So anyway what I would like to do is set up something that I can have in the kitchen all the time - like a mini recycling centre... so that I don't have to think about it, it's just there and I chuck everything in to the right place and then once a week or every two weeks drop it down to the recycling centre. I'm just looking for advice on how to go about this. Has anyone here done something like this at home.. if so what kind of set up do you have?
Things to take of note of is that I live in an apartment so unfortunately I can't go for home compost or anything... which would be great! (I'll be getting one the minute I get a house) and my kitchen is pretty small, it's not tiny but I don't want something that's going to take up loads of space.
So anyway, I'd be grateful for some tips and advice please... thanks!

The Hill Billy

I have 4 bins in my kitchen for "waste management":
1 small for compost (veggy peelings, tea bags, egg shells, etc)
1 medium for the Green Bin
1 medium for non-recyclable material (plastics, leftover food, etc.)
1 large (I drink a lot ) for glass bottles & jars

As you are in an apartment maybe you could try a multi-compartment bin to save space? They generally have them in hardware/homeware stores.

EcologiKids

you could also try a green cone - you only need a small garden for your kitchen scraps -doesn't produce compost but gets rid of ALL organic materials (ie food scraps cooked or raw) and reduces them into water - anything that can't be composted.

you can see them here http://www.greencone.ie/

other than that I just have a few tubs that I seperate everything into that can't go into the main green bin. ie plastics (1,2,3,4,5), glass, textiles - PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE THAT MOST PLASTICS ARE RECYCLED THEY ARE ALL CODED

once a month we take them to the recycling centre - and because i live in a suburban area the lawn needs mowing but we bring these to our local green centre for 5 euros for a car load (I save up during the summer so i'm not spending 5 euro each week or every lawn trim)...

any furniture stuff I put into buy and sell to make a few quid, if they don't sell i freecycle them or have found jumbletown.ie as well.

hth
Nicky

SeanW

I recycle what I can, glass jars and the odd beverage can, but I mainly use plastics, and for what reasons I don't know these can't be recycled.

Oldtree

Good on you for your effort. The main thing is to realise that recycling is just another habit, and once it is a habit for you, it is no problem to do. Do what you can it all mounts up.

air

I use a system similar to Hill Billy, I built a little wooden rack in a large press in my utility room. I have 4 large pull out drawers - one for each of the following :
Metal Cans - I put aluminium and steel in together and seperate them at the recycling centre
Glass - again I throw all the colours in together and seperate later
Plastic - Milk bottles etc
Cardboard - Tetra paks, cardboard, newspapers etc

I have a regular bin for general waste, this generally gets filled with things like plastic wrappings that are contaminated with food etc. About 1 black bag per month of general waste is generated but it tends to be very light (all air) and doesnt smell because there is no real quantity of food in it.

I also have a green cone in the garden and use the kitchen caddy for filling it up. I've only had the cone for about 4 months & it looks to be going great but I'll leave it a year before I make my final judgement. I wasnt too impressed by the service from greencone.ie but the product does seem good.

I dont have any paid bin service, anything that isnt accepted by the recycling centre - cardboard etc, I usually put in my parents dry recyclable bin once a month or so. Mr Binman sells 8 euro general refuse sacks for one off general waste disposal. Recyling saves me about 300 euro a year.

SeanW

Are any of you guys able to recycle plastics?

I'm talking mainly about fizzy drinks bottles and the like.

greenwilly

Have you tried this web site www.newgreenfutures.ie?

We sell all kinds of bins, boxes, can crushers, composters, bags, etc to make the job of the home recycler easy.

We also offer free advice and all kinds of recycling tips & information.

Best wishes

Velvet Vocals

Thanks for all the advice folks. That site is great greenwilly, I think I'm going to get the Set of 3 Recycling Bags that way I can keep them in the kitchen and then just put them in the car and bring them to the recycling centre... pretty handy!

yop

Excellent thread lads, also the point of making special drawers etc in the utility room for each type of recyclyable is an excellent idea as we are near ready to shelve the utility room so that is what I will do.

What are our options with newspapers? These seem to be our biggest issue in our current house.

Funsterdelux

Where can one recycle paper/cardboard in Glasnevin

cuckoo

Funsterdelux wrote:

Where can one recycle paper/cardboard in Glasnevin

http://www.dublinwaste.ie/search.html

There's a search facility there, so you can search by the stuff you want to recycle, or by the area you live in.

netwhizkid

I recycle as much as I can too.

I recycle all glass jars bottles etc and food and beverage cans for almost ten yrs now I have being recycling Plastic bottles for about two years. Cardboard has now joined my list of recyclables with this being recycled from last Christmas. I do not pay waste charges, as it is only another stealth tax, which should be provided free from general taxation as it is in the UK and USA.

I instead store all my above recyclables in four old big chemical barrels in my garage. I empty them as they fill up usually about once every 8 to 10 weeks. I ensure all plastic bottles and everything is washed first otherwise they would smell before the 8 weeks are up. I have other sealed bins which I use to store the black bags, which contain everything else except compostables. I empty these once monthly at a cost of €10 to my waste transfer station. I also get rid of all my recyclables there except for Cardboard as there is no facility there for it and I take this to Killarney when passing there anyway.

I also keep a shoebox for things like old batteries and light bulbs and I empty this every 6 months or so.

I don't compost in the traditional sense as my neighbour tried it last summer and drew every Rat for miles around. They stopped that and I abandoned my plans for it. Several dead rats later I take all my compostables and grass clippings and other garden waste to the farm and empty the whole lot into a big hole that needs filling anyway.

Waste charges are a thundering disgrace and should be free for everyone; our environment would be much the better for it.

FillSpectre

A few people seem to think you can't recycle plastic! The bring centres often have plastic facilities too. The only thing that botheres me about recycling plastic packaging is it often needs to be cleaned. Using mains water to clean recycle things can be really wasteful. I am going to change my plumbing to use shower water to clean goods soon.

A woman in work was rinsing out a milk carton to recycle it and she must of used a litre of water to clean it.

Misty Moon

Having lived in Germany while in and after college I got into the habit of separating early and continued here when I returned. Was very glad when we finally got some plastic recycling facilities.

I have a small kitchen but what I've done is buy a small set of shelves (four shelves, about 14" by 14" and a few inches higher than the counter) and have a basin on each shelf to put stuff into as follows:

One for green bin (tetrapak, paper, cardboard, tins, cans, metal lids off jars) - gets emptied out into green bin a couple of times a week.
One for glass
One for plastic packaging
One for plastic bottles

At the side of one of the basins I also have an envelope that I put any wasted batteries into (I use rechargable ones at home mostly but work use quite a lot and have no recycle facilities available. Yet!). Bulbs just get put on the top of the shelves so that I don't forget them.

All of this goes to the recycle centre in Rathmines every week or two. They now have a green waste bin there as well but I have a composter out in the garden so use that instead.

I find it's really handy to have the shelves there as the stuff goes straight into them without even the effort needed to open a lid required

Everything else goes into the ordinary bin - we (three of us) barely fill one bin a week so the ordinary bin only goes out for collection about once a month.

RiderOnTheStorm

having this poll here is a bit like preaching to the converted, eh? I wonder if it should be in the Motors or Photography thread if you want realistic figures......but mabe mods would move it out of there.

mjffey

yop wrote:

What are our options with newspapers? These seem to be our biggest issue in our current house.

You can bring them also to the recycling bank, or make bricks out of them and use them in your stove/open fire (if you have one)

I have about 6 big plastic boxes in the shed for carton, milk/juice cartons, paper, plastic that can be recycled, non-recycable plastic, foodcans and a small bag for all the lids. Oh and ofcourse one for glass. Once every three month we drive 45 minutes to our nearest recycling bank.

I have also a compostheap. Never problems with rats as I don't throw any cooked stuff or meat on it.

mjffey

SeanW wrote:

Are any of you guys able to recycle plastics?

I'm talking mainly about fizzy drinks bottles and the like.

Sean,

We hardly drink fizzy drinks, but when we go to our recycling bank I see loads of them. Were we go, the County has put samples on all the containers, so that it is easy to see what belongs were.

audizerstoren

Have been using a green recycling bin for a couple of years..the problem is that Oxigen collect same every 4 weeks but wont lift the "ordinary" bin that week...damned awkward at times.

Last week we bought a green cone which we hope to install in the next few weeks .Once that gets going i hope to get rid of Oxigen and their over the top bills!

bk

I recycle what I can, but I think we need more help from the government to help us recycle better.

For instance, I know glass and plastic can be recycled at the recycle banks, but I don't have a car (I like cycling) and therefore have no way to get them there, so instead they get dumped with the rest of the trash.

It seems to me to be counter productive to be driving to a recycle bank, releasing all the co2, unless you happen to be passing anyway.

Aren't such recyclables also collected in other countries, why can't we do that?

Also I have to laugh when I hear people saying that we should compose. I like many people live in Dublin where we have either little or no garden and I think it is too much effort for most people and they dislike the idea. Some county (I think Galway) has a brown bin where they collect such waste, compost it in a center and then sell the result or spread it on national park. This seems like a great idea and should be implemented in at least all cities.

Finally, Oxigen are a pain, if you have extra recyclable material and you put it next to the recycle bin, they never collect it, they jsut leave it there. Unlike the normal waste guys who are always nice enough to collect everything. Given that Oxigen come only once a month, I'll give you one guess what happens to the extra recyclable waste, that is right straight into the trash. A little flexibility from them would help.

Misty Moon

bk wrote:

For instance, I know glass and plastic can be recycled at the recycle banks, but I don't have a car (I like cycling) and therefore have no way to get them there, so instead they get dumped with the rest of the trash.
.

Why don't you cycle then? If you were to do it every week it's likely you wouldn't have too much to be able to manage on a bike. I certainly see lots of people every week at the recycle centre who have walked or cycled.

I agree with your point re collecting compostable waste for those who don't have a garden - saw about Galway on Nationwide once, they even have a guy with a hawk who comes in once a week to take care of the rodents iirc.

And I do also think that Oxigen collections should be increased. As far as I'm concerned ordinary black bin collections could be decreased easily too. However I've never gotten onto anyone (neither Oxigen nor any local politicians) about it. It's one of those things I intend to talk about if I ever see a politician on my doorstep!

bk

Misty Moon wrote:

Why don't you cycle then? If you were to do it every week it's likely you wouldn't have too much to be able to manage on a bike. I certainly see lots of people every week at the recycle centre who have walked or cycled.

There isn't one that I regularly pass, they are all out of the way for me, you see I'm like most people, I like to do what I can for the environment, but like most people I'm lazy and won't make too much effort, so you need to make it easy for me, like collecting all recyclables.

Misty Moon wrote:

And I do also think that Oxigen collections should be increased. As far as I'm concerned ordinary black bin collections could be decreased easily too. However I've never gotten onto anyone (neither Oxigen nor any local politicians) about it. It's one of those things I intend to talk about if I ever see a politician on my doorstep!

I agree specially if they did the brown bins. In a house with three people, we only put out our black bin about once a month (saves on the lift charge).