How to Set Up a Home Recycling System Portland OR

Steps

1. Ask your municipality for a recycling bin or 'dumpster'-style outdoor bin (these are generally blue or green, and usually free of charge).
2. Request the list of recyclable materials from your local collector. Not all municipalities or cities accept empty milk cartons, for example, or used plastic grocery bags.
3. Set up a place in your home for collection of clean paper, cans, plastic containers and unbroken glass. These will be clean although they can be somewhat unsightly. No need to worry about bugs or odors from here though. The bin for paper will probably be the largest. Paper waste is Compost
4. Go to a landfill and see if there is anything of use.

Tips

• See your local recycle regulations.
• Rinse containers to help reduce any odours.
• Wash the indoor bin regularly with soap or bleach.
• If you live in an apartment and have only a small bin, which you might be obliged to leave on a porch or shared balcony, use an indelible marker to mark your address on it.
• If you can't have a compost pile or bin consider a worm bin for kitchen food scraps or an indoor composter. Indoor composting and worm composting in odor free. Some indoor composters run on electricity.
• Join freecycle to give away unwanted household items such as furniture
• Set up recycle cans or bins around the house wherever you have a garbage can to reduce waste on the spot.
• Crush plastic containers and cans because it saves space in your cans and in the truck that transports them.
• To cut down on clutter, consider an can and plastic crushing recycling bin such as the Ecopod.
• List just about anything including boxes on Craigslist in the free area.
• Challenge yourself to reduce your garbage by half. Even if you are recycling now this can be a great challenge to try to reduce or re-use as many items as possible.
• Expand your awareness and educate yourself about recycling so that the process becomes more efficient over time.
• The best paper to recycle is computer paper. The least useful is construction paper. Shredded paper is difficult to separate so it goes into a lower grade paper. Only shred what you must shred.
• Think of new ways to re use old items that you would usually put in the landfill.
• Recycling can be even easier if your community has mixed recycling.Because you would only need two containers then one for mixed and one for glass.
• Reuse, or donate for reuse, as much as you can. Reduce packaging and use of materials can also help in reducing landfill waste.
• Many states provide small cash rewards for each item recycled, so it's a good idea to save up the items until you have enough to buy something with the rewards.
• Try to avoid making special trips in your car to recycle, as you will be using fuel unnecessarily. Combine it with a trip you are making anyway.
• Don't just think of the normal items you can recycle, do some research and expand it. Some things you might be able to recycle easily are:
  • Junk Mail
  • Batteries (very important)
  • Beer and Wine bottles
  • Paper and plastic bags
  • Magazines, Newspapers, phonebooks
• Automobile fluids should be recycled too. Take used oil and other fluids to a local repair shop and they will recycle it for you.

Warnings

• descriptionBins are free, but they can get stolen, especially in the city. Putting your address on it is a handy deterrent.
• Never put biodegradable organic materials in recycling (meat, egg shells, bones). These will be refused, and animals are likely to be attracted to the scent and make a mess that nobody will appreciate. Compost these items instead.
• Soiled tissues, diapers, fabrics, broken glass, toxic materials, etc. will not be accepted. The worker(s) will usually leave such items in your bin.
• Lots of places have hazardous waste facilities. Check these out for toxic wastes.

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