Home Improvements - Recycling

Here in St. Louis County we have to pay for recycling service whether we use it or not. In our house we were having a hard time using the recycling trash can just for recyclables... for a long time now I've wanted to get second trash can solely for recycling for the kitchen. If we can separate it right in the kitchen we are more likely to actually use it.

Like I said I've had this idea for quite awhile, but I was wanting a fancy expensive trash can to match the fancy expensive trash can we already have. Then I realized we really don't need a fancy pants trash can... we just need one that looks good enough.

I was at Garden Ridge with my mom and picked up an inexpensive black trash can. It goes in our black, white and red kitchen and it still looks pretty sleek. We were just going to know the black can was for recycling and the red was for other trash... but then realized that no one else that visited our house would know our system and inevitably throw their trash into the black can (I mean typically recycling goes into a blue bin or green or something at least Earthy) So I printed off a recycling symbol onto some card stock and we taped it the the top of the trash can... problem solved there!
This system is already making a world of difference in our household... I should have just bought a cheaper trash can sooner!!