Posted by swistle on 20th April 2011
Categories: House & Home
10 comments
In our kitchen right now we have many bins. We have the regular trash can and a second trash can we use for paper recycling. We also have a large ugly cardboard box and an ugly broken plastic bin: the ugly cardboard box is for glass recycling, and the ugly broken plastic bin is for plastic recycling (it pleases me that I’m also reusing an otherwise unusable bin—but it is so ugly).
This is too much ugly. I first thought we should get a line of matching trash cans of the “kitchen” variety that have a little swinging lid on top—but the problem is that the tallness of such trash cans doesn’t work with putting them in the car to bring them to the dump waste management station. Something short and wide like the ugly box/bin works much better. I was shopping for such a thing, and I’d had NO IDEA what a lot of options there were. Some don’t work for our household but might work for yours.
The Neu Home Organize It All Stainless Step-On Recycle Bin (photo from Amazon.com) is clearly gorgeous. It’s also clearly over $100. And, saddest of all, at 12 gallons total, it’s not big enough for our household.
Target carries a Smart Bin Waste Recycling Bin (photo from Target.com) that looks similar. It’s a few dollars less (before shipping) but holds 16 gallons instead of 12—and it qualifies for 10% off over $100, so you could save $10 if you could find something that cost….a penny. (I might in this case consider emailing customer service and asking if they could do something about that.)
The Flings Recycle bins (photo from Amazon.com) immediately caught my eye for their price ($16 for four) and free shipping. But then when they said “reusable,” I went “Wait, what?” It turns out these are mostly for parties, where you want people to recycle but you don’t want bins to store between parties. I don’t think they look durable enough to use as regular household bins—but I’m a little tempted to order just one to see what they’re like.
The Suncast Recycle Bin Kit (photo from Amazon.com) is most what I was looking for. And I love the customer-submitted images, because they tell me what I really want to know, which is HOW BIG ARE THESE BINS? I have trouble visualizing. (I only knew the 12-gallon Neu Home one was too small because the ugly broken bin we use is 14 gallons.) And the reviews are good. It’s still nearly $50, but that doesn’t seem so bad after looking at the other options, and also I like how these stack instead of living side by side on the already-limited floor space. I wish they weren’t so colorful (though the reviews note that the colors are more subdued in real life than in the photo), but the different colors will help me the kids remember which bin is which.
This set of four bins from Target (photo from Target.com) is another option that might be perfect: each bin is 18 gallons—larger than our big broken bin. The colorful Suncast bins don’t say what their capacity is, but we can get a general idea by the dimensions given in the description: Suncast are 24 x 18 x 17; the Target ones are 18 x 25 x 25—about 1/3rd bigger, each bin, than the Suncast.
Or Target has another set that’s 6 bins instead of 4, and clear instead of black and grey (photo from Target.com). In the photo they look a little less…garage-y than the set of 4, but maybe they’d look worse once they had visible trash (and the various leavings from previous loads of trash) inside. They have free shipping, which is nice, and a few commenters mention using them instead for things like winter outerwear. They’re nearly $80—but with free shipping.
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Have you found a successful sorting system for recycling?
These are all fantastic options…
I’m liking the bins at the bottom.
Amanda | April 20th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
i have the suncast bins in gray and black. they were 10 each at the home depot on sale several years ago. we have four: paper, glass, plastic, aluminum. I didn’t worry about the ugly garage look because we keep them in the garage. I have a small bin under the sink for all recycle-ables and then we empty it in the garage once it’s full. now that we’re about to move to a house with garage near the kitchen rather than downstairs i may just take it straight to the garage…well see. i’ve also seen recycle bins at ikea i think. check those out too! before we used suncast i used sterlite stackable drawers leftover from college (that had held clothes under my bed.) They worked for several years but aren’t large or super durable. as they broke down we recycled those.
Southern jezeBelle | April 20th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
We live in Chicago, so we put all our recycling into old plastic grocery bags (which are recyclable) and then toss the bag into the big blue wheelie bin in the alley when it’s full. So easy!
We used the colorful stacking bins when I was a kid, living in the suburbs. We had to transport our own recycling to a facility. They can be hard to empty out completely (it’s hard to stick your hand/arm all the way to the back) and they can get really gross (and hard to clean) if you don’t fully rinse out any jars/cans. But they do stack really neatly and the different compartments are handy, and they hold quite a bit. For reference, we were a family of five and there was a lot of beer/wine being consumed (and recycled) and those bins would hold a good amount.
Brigid Keely | April 20th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
We have curbside recycling and don’t have to sort.
However, I used to use bins similar to these (the stacking plastic ones) for laundry. I would keep them stacked in my closet and toss the clothes in the appropriate bin upon taking them off. Then simply carry them to the washer when full. Thus no extra “laundry sorting” step.
SKL | April 20th, 2011 at 8:10 pm
I didn’t realize how much I needed new recycling bins until I read this. Now I MUST HAVE THEM.
Stimey | April 20th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
I was amazed when I moved to Oregon, to discover that our recycling all goes in ONE bin. Metal, plastic, paper! There’s a small separate one for glass, but most of the glass jars I wash and reuse anyway.
The only separating we do is that soda cans/bottles go to the recycling because they are redeemed for $. We just fill bags with these, since we walk to the store to redeem them often.
Alicia C | April 20th, 2011 at 10:16 pm
I have one of these, which look similar to the Target ones at the bottom of your post. I use mine as a diaper pail to fit in an awkward space (on top of front-load washer but under a shelf) and it is rad for that. It’s probably not big enough for your recycling needs, but it IS cheap, if you have an IKEA within range. It comes in two sizes, but I only have the smaller one, so I’m not sure really HOW BIG the other one is.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90076364
Sahara | April 21st, 2011 at 3:33 am
Thank you for all the info. Just a note on the ‘flings’ bin. I did order them once for our daughters first birthday party and was very disappointed.
They are nothing but a plastic wrapped around two thin wire rods.
Ok when you have a party outside your home and would not like to carry bin from home. But definitely not for regular use. I would not even order it again for a party in the house.
Pooja | April 21st, 2011 at 7:05 pm
We also have curbside pickup for recycling so we have no need to sort. HOWEVER, I have no direct door from my house to the garage (where the bins live) so I have one of those suncast boxes that I bought at Menards to keep in the kitchen. When it get full, we run it out to the garage and dump it. It is especially useful in the winter and when I have on jammies and don’t want to show the neighborhood.
Chris | April 23rd, 2011 at 1:10 pm
I like a lot of these options. We have curbside recycling though, so no sorting for us, yay! However, the city recently converted to a GIANT recycle bin that is actually larger than the city-provided trash can. Obviously, it has to go outside, so I need some sort of middle-ground thing I can put in the kitchen or garage to catch the stuff without having to walk each can out around the side of the house.
Christy M | May 11th, 2011 at 3:36 pm