Setup a Home Recycling System - PEP BB nest.straw.homerecycling

The recycling system is already in place here for years. So I made photos to show everything


Three large containers with different coloured lids. Provided by town council. From left to right: Green lid for compostable 'green waste', I don't use this one because i have a compost heap and a brush pile. Grey or orange lid for recyclables, like plastic and metal packaging. Blue lid for recyclable (clean) paper and cardboard.


On my self-made calender you can see in colours when is the day for a certain container. Like blue for paper and orange for plastic and metal recyclables. It's also on the town's website and in an app.


A basket in which I collect paper and cardboard for some time.


My tiny waste-bin for all that isn't compostable or recyclable


Underground container which opens with a card to put the non-compostable, non-recyclable waste in (with my tiny bag of waste)

Hi. Is there something more I have to do to get this BB? Or can't I get it anyway, because this was already started years ago?

Probably you don't see the photos.
I'll make a new post here.


The three different containers for compostables, for paper / cardboard and for plastic, cans and other packages


My calender with the different colours for the dates of different trash collecting


Basket for paper, which I'll empty later in the container. Or sometimes I 'repurpose' the paper


Tiny trash bin for the non-precyclables

Mike, do those labels need to be ON the containers? Or would it be OK if I have a paper which says "... what the destination is and what they require (clean, labels okay, etc.)"?
Because if those labels are on the containers and it rains, they will soon not be readable anymore. It often rains here.

Or would this count as 'labeling'? I painted it with acrylic paint, which don't wash off so quickly.

We have a dual bin service here - one for recycling, the other for everything else.

Town public works guide

The collect both bins on Tuesday but we only put out recycling as we have very little generic trash. That goes in the ‘black’ bin for Friday collection. My youngest son takes out the bins before 5pm the day before. He has a calendar reminder and it’s posted on the family notice board.

All our household rubbish goes into one of three bins in the kitchen - one for ‘black’ bin, one for ‘green’ recycling bin and the third for composting.

I have a waste paper bin by the front door. 99% of what arrives in our mail box goes straight in it. Some of this will end up as brown waste for the compost bins.

I also have a pretty unique bottle reuse system. Empty screw top wine bottles are left of my neighbours table. Once a year he buys a significant quantity of grapes, which he presses, ferments and makes wine. Occasionally a full bottle is left on my backdoor step.

Being German, recycling has been indoctrinated into me since elementary school. While I am still working on reducing trash to a minimum, I still do my best to make it easier for recycling companies to reuse what I have thrown away.

So we have this 5 bin system for kitchen scraps, plastics, paper, glass and rests (anything that doesn't fit in the first 3 categories).

Kitchen scraps don't leave our property, every morning I empty the little bin onto our compost pile (for now, planning to try the Ruth Stout method and I'd like to incorporate chicken into our system as well)

We also keep e-waste separately we bring to a special bin which can be found in our town hall. It doesn't have a bin, it's usually batteries or old electronic devices kept in a bag for the next time we drive to town.

Speaking of driving to town, we live too remote for having our trash being picked up. Since we have to drive there around once per week, we also use the opportunity and take any trash bags/bins we have filled during that time to throw them into the trash containers there. It's exactly the same system: plastic, paper, glass and rests + organic waste.