Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
The Recycling Conundrum
I often find myself conflicted between my urge to purge and my commitment to recycling. I constantly struggle to find some place of balance, so that I am not keeping string too short to be used, but nor am I pitching perfectly usable items. Maybe it is because my parents were depression-era babies or because I have Midwestern-farm blood, but there is a part of me that balks at throwing out useable materials, even when I know that starting fresh with new things will be more pleasing to the eye and easier to organize.
On the one hand, recycling can be a way of getting things out of the house; on the other hand it can become a morass of dog-eared envelopes and old take-out containers. Here are some of the issues I have tackled and systems I have come up with in my own life.
The Recycling Station
One of the first things to do is to get your recycling area organized. Here are the categories I use:
- Redeemables (you don’t need this if you don’t return your cans and bottles)
- Recyclables:
- Glass, Plastic, Metal
- Paper, Cardboard
Under my kitchen cabinet, I have a tote bag that goes back to the grocery store with cans and bottles, a $2 plastic laundry basket from Ikea that goes to the basement with cans and other recyclable materials, and a newspaper stacker where we put our used newspaper. I also have a shredder and a milk crate under my desk for paper recycling. When it is time to empty them I carry them down to the basement where there are clear bags for paper recycling. When you create your system you should consider where you use the materials to be recycled (ie: jars in the kitchen, junk mail at your desk), and where they are headed (ie: the grocery store, the basement.) You want to keep it as simple as possible.
Other ways of recycling & re-using
Wire hangers: While you can put wire hangers with your metal recycling, your dry-cleaner will recycle them more efficiently by reusing them. Store them near your dirty dry-cleanables and return to dry-cleaner when you drop clothes off
Grocery Bags: To store them for re-use in your own home, keep them neat by buying a container to hold and dispense them at Bed, Bath & Beyond or thecontainerstore.com. Or return them– some stores, such as Stew Leonard’s and Whole Foods will take your bags back. Ask at your local grocery store. Of course, the best course of all is to take a tote bag to do your grocery shopping and never bring those annoying plastic bags into your house in the first place!
Baggies: Instead of buying an expensive “baggie-dryer” from Harmony, I created my own by putting my chopsticks in a mug on my kitchen counter. While re-using baggies can seem extreme, for those of you with children, you know that it seems crazy to throw out a baggie that had two rice crackers in it, and is going to have ten animal crackers in it tomorrow.
Re-using within the home
Because I am always trying to improve on organization in my own home, I often try to use things that I already happen to have. I also try to do this at clients’ homes so I can organize a space without stopping for a trip to buy supplies. Here are some household items that I have found second lives for:
Jelly Jars: You know those sample-size jellies your Aunt Harriet sends from Harry & David’s for Christmas? Those jelly jars are PERFECT in my medicine cabinet. They hold Q-tips, the brushes for my electric toothbrush, and the tiny dental-floss tips my husband buys. Larger jars hold our toothbrushes. Unlike plastic ones, these don’t yellow with heat and age; when they get dirty one wash restores them. Obviously this is not great for a kid’s medicine cabinet, but for adults it works well. I also use the smaller ones in my kitchen drawers for toothpicks and twist ties.
Laundry Detergent Tops: I have used the top of a jug of laundry detergent to hold little packets of ointment or samples from Kiehl’s in a clients medicine cabinet, or for measuring spoons in a kitchen drawer.
Mint Tins: What is it about those mint tins that make people want to collect them? When my husband and I left Chicago, he had a collection of Altoid tins; I put them out at our moving sale, and was amazed that somebody actually paid $5 for them. My best friend, Katie, paints them and uses them as jewelry boxes at Christmas, but I just use them to store safety pins and thumb tacks.
Film Canisters: Like mint tins, these work in a desk drawer for things like thumbtacks or in a toolbox for small hardware like screws, washers, nails etc.
Limit Your Space
To keep from going overboard, it helps to limit your space. If you reuse manila envelopes, have a designated space; if they overflow that space, go through and pitch some. Similarly, I have a place where I keep those great, flat Chinese-food containers, but when they get too crowded, it is time to pitch some.