Portland: Let's get ready to roll cart!

They are coming! Good-bye yellow recycling bins, and hello blue roll carts. Shelby Wood of PDXGreen wrote a great article in today's Oregonian about what and what not to put in your new roll cart. Now I'm going to put on my Master Recycler hat and give you the lowdown (with help from the Office of Sustainable Development). This is also the perfect time to reevaluate your recycling center and think about reducing the amount of stuff that goes into your garbage can. I'm going to talk about all of this stuff, so sit back and dig in.

First, here's what should and should not go in the new, blue recycling roll carts:

• DO put in this kind of paper: newspapers, magazines, cardboard, cereal boxes, egg cartons, junk mail, milk cartons, juice or soup aseptic boxes
• DON'T put in this kind of paper: freezer food cartons (this means any kind of carton stored in the freezer), food contaminated paper (like greasy pizza boxes), paper towels
• DO put in this kind metal: tin cans, clean aluminum foil, aerosol cans, scrap metal, dried paint cans
• DON'T put in this kind of metal: cans with rubber or plastic parts (if you can't remove those parts, don't include the can), nothing larger than 30 inches by 8 inches or 30 lbs.
• DO put in this kind of plastic: plastics with a neck, rigid plant pots (not the crinkly kind), yogurt-type containers (no smaller than 6 oz and ONLY #2 and #5 plastics, which is most tub-like containers), buckets, including kitty litter buckets.
• DON'T put in this kind of plastic: plastic lids, plastic bags, oil or pesticide containers, to-go containers (unless they are a #2 or #5 tub...I think they are talking about those rigid clamshell containers, which are a no-no)
• DO put glass in its own container on the side: Clear or colored glass bottles and jars need to be kept out of the blue roll carts. Continue to place it in a rigid bucket or use one of the yellow bins for glass. DO NOT INCLUDE: broken glass, light bulbs, drinking glasses or lids
• DO put used motor oil in a clear plastic container on the side: no larger than one gallon and needs to have a screw-on lid

The OSD Web site has lots more info about how to prepare these materials, which really isn't much different than the way we've been doing it before. Plus, you will get all of these instructions when your roll cart arrives. And just when is that you ask? 

Well, it all depends on your hauler. Everyone will have their carts by July, but if you must know when yours will arrive, call your hauler.

Time to get organized!

With a 60 gallon roll cart replacing the space of two smaller bins, you might need to do a little reorganization. This is the perfect time to fine-tune your entire recycling system. In Portland we can recycle almost everything (you don't know how lucky we are). But chances are you won't do it unless you have a semi-organized system in place. Renee and I got our acts together last year after we became Master Recyclers and set up systems that work for us. Mine is in the garage, right outside our kitchen. Renee's is in her basement, and she used her old diaper changing table to organize her bins. Here's a picture of mine:

It's not pretty, but it works. All the plastic bags (and as you can see there are a ton, mostly due to receiving two newspapers every day) are shoved into that long, mesh tube I bought at the Container Store (IKEA has something similar). I have bins for plastics #1-7 and Misc. I have two smaller bins for lightbulbs and alkaline batteries, and I'm just kind of shoving random styrofoam up there until I take it to PLC for recycling. The bucket under the mesh bag is for glass. Down in my laundry room I have a box for stuff I can take to SCRAP -- bottle caps, wine corks, small broken toy parts, etc. Sometimes we dig around this box for stuff for art projects.

Once the roll cart comes I'll have to do some shifting, but it should fit. This really is the perfect time to set up a system: wire shelving is cheap and easily found at your local hardware store, the Home Depot or the Container Store (or a lucky score at the ReStore). Use cardboard boxes with the flaps cut off or whatever you have available for bins. Label the bins so everyone knows what goes where. 

Goal: Move to once-a-month garbage service

Shelby said our rates will probably increase by around $2.60 with the new roll carts. Hmm, how can you eliminate that expense and save money? Move to a smaller garbage can, or better yet, move to once-a-month service. You can do this. It's a little tough if you have a child in disposable diapers, but junior won't be in them forever, so start planning now. Renee and I both went to once-a-month service last year, and we both did it because we:

1) started composting our food scraps -- this is huge

2) started recycling all of our plastics at the Master Recycler Plastics Roundup

3) stopped using paper towels and napkins in favor of durable, reusable cloth goods

4) reduced the amount of convenience foods we buy that come in containers that can't be recycled (ice cream, for one)

5) got the kids out of diapers

OK, now what about those green roll carts?

Oh, yeah, almost forgot about those. Well, those are for yard debris (and one day, fingers crossed, for curbside food scrap collection). Yard debris will still be collected every other week. One day, when we get food scrap collection, the plan is to collect the yard/food roll carts and recycling roll carts every week and collect garbage every other week. But, let's not jump ahead of ourselves yet. The important thing is to try and make changes now with the system we currently have.

Bonus idea: wondering what to do with your current yard debris can? Use it to store brown leaves and yard debris to use in your food scrap composting bin. OR, turn the can into a composting bin by drilling 1/4" inch holes all around the sides and the bottom.

So are you ready? Motivated? Do you have any tips for setting up a functional recycling center? We're all ears and eager to learn. And if you have any questions about the new roll carts, we'll do our best to answer.