recycle right.
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Grades 5-7
Tutorial 3. Home Recycling Set-Up
Objective: Set-up recycle stations throughout your home and come up with a plan to keep your household on track.
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Now that you’re an expert on what materials go into each of your colored bins, it’s time to set up your home for success. After all, recycling can be easy! The best way to achieve zero waste is to make recycling a “no brainer” for everyone. It’s as simple as starting with setting up an additional container by each waste bin in your home, school or business. Studies show that adding one recycle bin next to each landfill bin increases the rate of recycling substantially.
Let’s get started with helping your household to easily Recycle Right. |
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Identify Prime Locations
First, take a look around your house. Where do you create the most waste? The kitchen? The garage? The office? Make sure there are waste bins in the best places in your home: by desks, near doors, under sinks. Wherever it makes the most sense! |
One-to-One Ratio
Then be sure to have one bin for recycling and one for landfill waste in each location or room. Place them side by side to make it easier for everyone in your household to place their waste in the correct bin.
Don’t have enough bins to put two in each location? Simple. Grab some cardboard boxes and make them into recycle bins. Make them fun and noticeable by decorating them to match the room or to show them off as the place where you put your recyclables. Go a step further and color code to match your outdoor bins.
Just remember, recyclables should be emptied loose in the outside blue bin. If you line your recycling container to make cleaning easier, the trash bag or liner must go in the trash.
Then be sure to have one bin for recycling and one for landfill waste in each location or room. Place them side by side to make it easier for everyone in your household to place their waste in the correct bin.
Don’t have enough bins to put two in each location? Simple. Grab some cardboard boxes and make them into recycle bins. Make them fun and noticeable by decorating them to match the room or to show them off as the place where you put your recyclables. Go a step further and color code to match your outdoor bins.
Just remember, recyclables should be emptied loose in the outside blue bin. If you line your recycling container to make cleaning easier, the trash bag or liner must go in the trash.
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Waste Pick-up Schedule
The final step in home set up is to know when to take the recycling, green waste, and trash bins out to the curb. It’s always best to take your waste to their respective Waste Management bins and then roll them out to the curb the night before your collection day, if not sooner. That way you can make sure all of your waste from the week is collected, and you can start the next week with empty bins. |
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Keeping a schedule on your refrigerator or some place handy can remind you of any changes and reduce the possibility of missing your pick up day. |
What day do the Waste Management trucks come to your neighborhood? You might already know this if taking out the waste bins is one of your weekly chores, but there are lots of other ways to find out. You can ask adults in your household, ask a neighbor, keep an eye out for the day of the week that all your neighbors put out their bins, check the bill or even contact Waste Management at (760) 439-2824 to find out for sure.
Remember that holidays can affect your schedule. Waste Management observes six holidays each year: Memorial Day, Labor Day, Christmas Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and New Year’s Day. If your normal collection day occurs on or after the observed holiday, your collection day will occur one day later during that same week. |
Tutorial Challenge
Now it’s time to set up your home for waste sorting success. Take that assessment of where your bins would work best. Add one recycling bin next to each landfill bin, this is called a 1:1 (one-to-one) station. Add a food scraps bin to the kitchen if you compost at home. Then decorate the bins and create signs to label each bin to help your family and friends to know where to throw.
- How many 1:1 stations did you set up for your household?
- After the first week of your new recycling set-up, how much waste did you notice went into the recycling bin instead of the trash?
- How will you keep your household on track to recycle?
Zero Waste Champion T-shirtAfter completing “Tutorial 3. Home Recycling Set-up” receive a free Zero Waste Champs T- Shirt!
It’s easy, just take a photo of one of your Home Recycling Set-ups and email it, along with your name, address and preferred shirt size to: ZeroWasteChampions@oceansideca.org. Your shirt will be mailed directly to you. Thanks for being a Zero Waste Champion! |
T-shirts are available while supplies last and for Oceanside residents.
