Have you ever had that dream wherein all the garbage in this world piled higher and higher until all the people drowned in it? Scary, isn’t it? Well, that dream is certainly not far from becoming a reality if people do not do their part in recycling.

Not to scare you or anything but the truth is landfills all over the world are accumulating waste at an alarming rate of 2 to 5 pounds of trash per person everyday. This means that in 50 years of spending time on earth you would have around 36500 to 73000 pounds of trash!

However, it is good to know that there are ways we can do to reduce the amount of trash that we dispose of everyday. The three practical R’s reduce, reuse and recycle would greatly help is the best way to do that.

Getting Started Plan and Prepare
Before you actually start buying recycling bins for your home, you must first be able to plan a program and prepare thoroughly for it. Here are the steps on recycling planning and preparation that you should keep in mind.

    Educate yourself about recycling by researching and reading articles on this topic online. You have to know that it is not enough that you know what the 3R’s stand for but you should also know what they actually mean. Reduce means to cut down on unnecessary consumption of products to minimize waste. Reuse involves using old items for other purposes (old aluminum soda cans can be reused as penholders). Recycling refers to the reprocessing of old materials to create new products. Furthermore, you must also know what types of materials are recyclable and how you can help make recycling easier (example, cleaning bottles and plastic before tossing them into the recycling bin).

    Contact the local recycling center and inquire what materials they accept. Also, ask them if they have a curbside pick up service (ask their schedule) or if you need to take the recyclables you have collected to their recycling depot.

    Formulate a household recycling program. Do not just imagine your plan or make mental pictures of you recycling inside your head. It would be more effective to write your program down on a paper and have everyone in the family read it.

    Invest on good quality recycling bins such as Rubbermaid recycling containers. Make sure your recycle bins have ample spaces for the kind of household waste you are going to put in it. For example, if you have too much paper in the house, it won’t make sense to buy a tiny paper-recycling bin. It is also advisable to get recycling equipment such as aluminum can crushers to make the process easier and more cost effective.

The Actual Recycling Program
After you have properly prepared for your recycling program, now you have to do the real thing.

    Get everyone involved with the program. Work will be doubly harder if you do it alone. You will need everybody’s participation and cooperation for the program to be successful. If kids are not that enthusiastic about recycling, tell them stories about the importance of this activity or make a game out of it (the one who can organize the discards in the best manner wins a prize).

    Encourage everyone in your family to be conscientious with their consumption and purchase of products. Opt for products that use environmental friendly packaging. Prefer to use reusable items such as cloth rags and sponges as cleaning materials instead of paper towels and disposable wipes. Do everything that you can do reduce household waste.

    Make it a habit to reuse items for other purposes. Don’t throw out any product without first thinking about the many other possible uses for it. (Tin cans can be pen holders, ice cream containers can be food containers and so on.)

    Place recycle bins in strategic locations in the house. When we say strategic, we mean that you place a specific recycle bin in the place where there is most likely that kind of household waste. For example, place the recycle bin for paper in the study room while recycle bins for bottles and plastics should be found in the kitchen and in the bathroom. Do not forget to also put outdoor recycling containers outside the house like in the patio or garden.

    Put labels on recycle bins accordingly so that everyone would know where to put their discards. Have different bins for different materials such as glass, tins and cans, paper and newspapers, compost, cardboard, and plastic. Even batteries should also have their own bin like battery recycling containers.

    Set up the system in such a way that would make the process convenient for everyone and not make it seem like a chore. For example, for papers and newspapers, use paper bins that is almost the exact size as the paper (only slightly bigger) to make bundling easier afterwards. Opt for bins that have flap style lids, which are easier to use.

    Keep recycling stations clean and tidy. Make sure everyone cleans bottles, plastics and other discards before putting them in designated bins. This not only makes recycling easier but also keeps the household sanitary. Unclean discards can be a breeding ground for flies and pests.

    Assign tasks to everyone so that the whole process would be easier and more convenient. For instance, have the kids sort out the discards while the adults take turns in bringing the  Make sure that everyone has a fair share of the workload.

After reading this guide, you will probably realize how difficult and time consuming the whole process can be. The work itself is enough to talk you out of engaging in recycling. But before you get discouraged, it is very important to know that your priceless efforts are all worth it. You are contributing to the picture of conserving energy, preserving natural resources, and improving the economy and the people’s life.

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