When I moved into my apartment last December, I got lazy about recycling. For the whole complex there are only three recycling bins, in one area next to a dumpster, on the other side of the complex: one for "paper products," one for aluminum, and one for plastics. The bins are the same size as the garbage-can type that I used to have at my old house, only now a complex of over 400 apartments is sharing them. They are constantly overflowing, and sorting became such a chore I felt overwhelmed.See this first photo. This was my first sorting arrangement, using a few paper bags, and you can see how much space it took up! That is the back of my kitchen island.
My apartment is just over 900 square feet. My garbage can sits next to my kitchen island, and I just have no place to put containers to sort out the recycling. I tried putting paper bags on the porch, but I live on the ground floor and fire ants quickly found my stash (even though I rinsed everything first). After one attempt of bringing fire-ant covered bags all the way to the recycling center on the other side of the complex, I officially threw in the towel. All my years as a resident of California were no match for this situation!
It occurred to me that there are probably other people in this same situation. People who'd love to recycle, if only it were POSSIBLE. So I thought I'd look into ideas other people have and try things out here, and report how things are going.
As of today, my trash can contains all manner of trash, a few aluminum cans and aluminum foil, and a healthy supply of baby diapers.
