Trash Cans for Home & Office
Separate Recyclables From Your Trash
What is a recycling bin? “A recycling bin or recycle bin is a receptacle or container to store sorted recyclables. You sort these recyclables from your daily trash at home or at the office.”
More about recycle bins
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Why use a recycling bin?
When you use a recycling bin to separate recyclables, you join the worldwide recycling community that wants to protect the environment and save natural resources. By sorting recyclables from your waste, you prevent raw materials from being lost on landfills or energy plants where recyclables get burned.
Why recycling is important?
So to reduce the amount of garbage, recycling at home or the office is important. Recycling saves natural resources, but it also has more advantages.
Recycling is important because it:
- Saves money
- Reduces energy use
- Reduces (fossil) fuel use
- Reduces waste on landfills
- Improves air and water quality
- Prevents loss of natural resources
- Fights global warming
Non-sorted trash contains valuable recyclable materials. The garbage ends up in landfills or gets burned in energy plants. In this way, natural resources are getting lost forever. To make a circular economy possible, sorting recyclables from trash is a necessity.
Types of recycling bins
Single compartment trash can
A single bucket compartment trash can is one purpose can. It has one compartment and can collect household trash or recycling, such as plastic or paper.
The advantage of a single purpose waste bin is that you can dedicate the bin to recyclables only. That makes sorting and separating recyclables very easy for you and your family. These bins can come with multiple lids, such as touchless lids with a sensor or a container with a foot pedal. But you can also opt for an open-top trash can without a cover for easy waste disposal.
We do recommend labeling your trash can with a recycling sticker.
Double compartment trash can
A double or dual trash can has two side-by-side compartments for separating trash and recyclables. The two compartments make a dual recycling bin a perfect companion for your household when looking for just one waste bin to collect waste and recyclables.
Generally speaking, dual compartment trash takes up less space than two single-purpose bins, and it works more conveniently.
Again, we recommend labeling each compartment of your trash can with a recycling sticker.
Three compartment trash can
A 3-compartment trash and recycling bin is a multi-purpose trash can. You can manage and sort three types of waste in three separate compartments. For instance, your daily household trash, paper, compost, or plastics.
With a trio recycling bin, you have everything you need to start recycling with your family. Sadly there aren’t many multi-compartment trash bins to choose from at the moment.
We recommend labeling the compartments with stickers.
Automatic sensor trash can
An automatic trash can with a motion sensor is a 100% touchless waste receptacle. You open the lid of the trash can by waving your hand in front of a sensor.
The touchless operation makes these trash cans hygienic in use. Great for families with kids.
The only downside with automatic garbage bins is that you need to change batteries every once in a while, and the motor can get a defect after using it intensively.
Pull out trash can
An under-counter pull-out trash can is a waste container that you install in a cabinet.
Most of these slide-out bins get installed in a kitchen cabinet right underneath the sink. It is a discrete solution when you want to hide your trash in the kitchen or don’t want to place a freestanding trash bin.
You also save floor space, which is especially convenient if you have a small kitchen or apartment.
Tilt out trash can
With a tilt-out trash can cabinet, you can also store trash can(s) out of sight in a cupboard. These freestanding waste cabinets with tilt doors can be placed anywhere in your house, but most people put them in the kitchen.
Tilt-out trash cabinets are often made of wood, and some cabinets even contain extra drawers or other cabinets to store other items, like trash bags or odor filters.
The difference with a pull-out trash can is that you tilt the door towards you instead of pulling it out like a drawer.
Compost bins, tumblers and worm farms
A compost bin is a dedicated receptacle for organic waste, such as biodegradable kitchen waste and waste from the garden.
With these composting bins, you can make your eco-friendly compost known as ‘black gold.’ There are multiple types of compost bins, such as a traditional compost bin, a compost tumbler, and a worm farm, which is also called vermicomposting.
The composting receptacles are built explicitly for the optimal decomposition of organic matter with proper aeration and moisture retention.
Trash can recycling stickers
Do you want to dedicate a bin especially for recycling? That is a great idea. But to prevent other people from accidentally throwing away their trash in the recyclables bucket, a recycling sticker can be helpful. A recycling decal or vinyl with the official recycling logo makes it visually clear to everybody that you want to use a bin only for recyclables. You can buy these trash can stickers in multiple variants, such as composting stickers, trash stickers, plastic waste stickers, and stickers for general recyclables.
“Changing the colour and messaging of trash bins had a significant impact on the amount of recycling collected.”
Do you want to know what you can’t throw away in your recycling bin? Check these tips at Earth911.com.
Recycling bins for your garage
When you want to separate waste materials at home, you need to have several recycling bins, one for every waste stream. For example, one container for your cardboard waste and another one for your plastic waste. These bins can take up quite a lot of space in your kitchen. That is why most people sort their recyclables and trash out of sight in the garage or a utility room.
With the Recycling Rules! In recycling bins, you can collect all your recyclables nicely. This set contains four blue stackable bins with handles. So you can easily transport each recycling bin. With the stackable bins, you can create your recycling station at home or work. Start sorting your glass, metals, plastic, paper, etcetera. The capacity of each bin is 6 gallons. You can also order the containers in larger quantities, such as an 8-pack or 16-pack.
Recycling bins for the kitchen
Most people use garbage or recycle bins in their kitchens. The kitchen area in your house where most of your daily trash appears. We recommend getting a kitchen bin with a recycling compartment. These two compartment trash cans are perfect for sorting kitchen waste. You can fill one of the buckets with garbage and the others with recyclables.
There are all kinds of kitchen recycle bins, because not all kitchens are the same, of course. You can buy a kitchen trash can in all sorts of shapes, sizes, materials, and colors. Do you have a small kitchen? Then you can look for a slim or narrow-sized recycling bin. You can also opt for a pull-out kitchen trash can that you can install in a kitchen cabinet. This type of pull-out recycling bin is also great if you want to keep your trash and trash can out of sight.
Most people get a pedal bin. These trash cans can be opened with a foot pedal, so you have your hands free to throw away your trash or recycling. Besides that, a pedal bin is also more hygienic in use because you don’t have to touch the bin or lid with your hands. A touch-free recycling bin is, of course, preferable for the kitchen area.
A kitchen recycling bin isn’t only useful in your house. Don’t forget the office environment. There is usually also a kitchen in the office, so it is a great idea to place a kitchen recycle bin here.
The pros of a recycling bin
Why do you need a recycling bin at home? With a trash and recycling bin, you have a dedicated container in your house to collect all your recyclables. In this way, it will be straightforward for you and the rest of your family to store all the recyclable waste materials.
It will surely give you and your family a fulfilled feeling when you see a recycling bin at the end of the week full of sorted recyclables. Sorting recyclables means your household contributes to a circular economy, and this is something to be proud of.
Reducing and preventing waste
If you want to contribute even more, then think about ways to prevent waste as much as possible. Maybe you’ve heard about zero waste already. This is a lifestyle where people try to live without any waste. This sounds great, but for most families, this idea is just not entirely achievable.
But instead of a 100% zero waste lifestyle, you and your family can reduce and prevent waste where it is possible.
Here are some waste preventing tips:
- Bring your own shopping bag to the mall.
- Reusing a water bottle instead of buying plastic water bottles.
- Use a lunchbox instead of wrapping your lunch in aluminum foil or a plastic bag.
By Recycling.com/ 4 January 2021