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

May 13, 2019 15:28:43

This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEP curriculum. Completing this BB is part of getting the strawbadge in Nest.

In this Badge Bit, you will setup a home recycling system.

Some related articles
- Earth911 Recycling Search
- I Want to be Recycled
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
- Our Home Recycling System: 6 Month Update
- Create a Trash and Home Recycling Center
- Recycling Basics for the Home
- Sorting Garbage, Recycling, and Organics
- How to Setup a Recycling System
- Portland, Oregon - Garbage, Recycling, and Waste

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
- set up a recycling system
- discover your local sorting requirement
- research pick-up schedule if applicable
- create a multi-bin system and label the bins

To show you've completed this Badge Bit, you must provide:
- a picture of your multi-bin system being created
- a picture of your multi-bin system with labels
* the labels must say what the destination is and what they require (clean, labels okay, etc.)
- a statement of your pickup schedule, or information on where you plan to take your recyclables

Aug 03, 2020 03:25:19

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)

Aug 12, 2020 03:26:58

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?

Mike Haasl · Sep 16, 2020 13:13:50

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

Sep 18, 2020 09:58:43

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.

Mike Haasl · Sep 21, 2020 07:39:43

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

gir bot · Sep 22, 2021 09:57:48

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.

gir bot · Dec 14, 2023 08:32:33

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.

gir bot · Jan 27, 2025 14:23:14

Our recycling system in our village has been established longer than I've lived here. The village did switch pickup companies 3 years ago and it's gone well.

gir bot · Mar 22, 2025 14:07:10

We don’t have trash or recycling service, so we bring our recyclables to the recycling center, our neighbors let us use their trash service, and our paper goes to the paper gator. Our recycling system has been in place for a while but here are the pictures of me setting it up.

gir bot · May 14, 2025 16:40:47

I'm too cheap to pay for trash service, so of course I recycle.

City of round rock, TX has a great recycling center and so that's where I take my stuff ...no ID/address required there.

They take everything as long as its sorted ...even household chemicals, styrofoam, and corrugated cardboard.

I have two bins, one for paper ...including cereal box thickness material, and the other for glass, cans, and PET plastics. That matches with their collection dumpsters.

They open at 10:30 weekdays off Deep Wood road in Round rock across from the High school

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