How do you organize your recycling? I am struggling with this in my home so I am asking for some tips from you the reader!

I have such a clutter conundrum in my kitchen. We generate a lot of recycling. My daughter likes to “eat” the junk mail so I need to keep at least 3 1/2 feet above the floor. I don’t have room for an under-cabinet recycling system and I have limited surface space. And the recycling must be set on the curb in a 2ft X 3ft bin or the truck will not pick it up and it will get thrown in the trash truck.

I purchased these wonderful recycling bins from the Container Store, but my daughter’s arms are long enough to reach in an take out that yummy junk mail. (I was thinking maybe chicken wire to shore up that open part of the bin? Just kidding.) Anyway, I am trying to limit her access to the bins by sticking them in my pantry area and keeping her out. I’ll let you know how this turns out.

Nevertheless, here are some of my organizing thoughts:

On an aside: here is a recycling solution my parents designed in the home they built 30+ years ago.

They installed below their kitchen sink metal ducts through the flooring that “shoot” down to trash bins in the basement storage room. One side is for glass and one is for metal. You take off the lid (which keeps odors and cold air from seeping up into the kitchen) and simply toss the bottle down the shoot. I always loved the smashing sound when it hits below.  And once a week we took the trash bins to the local dump. (They live in rural New Hampshire so there is no trash pick-up.) My kids love “putting things down the shoot” when we go to visit. Very fun.

And to boot, they also created a composting system right in their butcher block table. My dad actually made this piece of furniture and cut a square hole right through the butcher block table top. They installed small nails in the framing below and hung a plastic bucket so my mom could just sweep compost scraps right down into the hole and cover it with a decorative ceramic tile. We emptied the bucket daily onto the compost heap outside beside our garden. Ahhh, rural New Hampshire. We can’t do that with an HOA in suburban northern Virginia, but it is nice to remember.

So what is your recycling tip for me? How do you recycle in your home? Do you have a dream pull-out under-the-cabinet system? Or are you collecting it in bags that hang from your pantry door like I am? I’d love to hear from you, so drop a comment and help me recycle!