Tacky to Trendy: How to Make Recycling Cute

Caroline Sturman
May 12, 2016
2 min read

In our household, if you haven't already guessed it, we recycle! We recycle glass, plastic, cardboard, paperboard, and aluminum. Not only does recycling help keep our garbage can less cluttered...meaning we take out our kitchen trash way less often...but it also makes me feel like I'm doing my small part for the environment. Now, what helps even more is purchasing items with minimal packaging, buying local fruits and veggies, not purchasing a whole lot of meat from the grocery store, etc. Many different ways to help reduce the amount of energy used and resources wasted. I digress.

We were using these ugly blue, red, and grey storage bins from when I moved a lot in college as our recycling bins. They were on our screened-in porch and most importantly, they were not cute. Plus those bins would be great for storing things in our basement so I didn’t throw them away…reuse people!

There are many different bins or baskets to choose that will make your recycling bins trendy to match whatever theme you have in your room. Now, if your bins are in your garage and you don't care if your garage is cute or not...because it's a garage...then by all means, leave the plastic bins you're already using. But if your most convenient recycling location is visible in the kitchen or on your porch, then let's dress it up a little! Here are some cute examples I found on Pinterest (links included):

Colorful Crates (link) Rustic Barrel (link)

So I’m originally from Maryland where the Blue Crabs roam freely and then get caught, steamed, sprinkled with Old Bay, and eaten. It’s wonderful! Blue Crabs are one of the many things I miss about living in Southern Maryland so to bring a little bit of SOMD with me to Lynchburg, I asked my father if we had any crab bushel baskets around the farm. Alas, we did! They were beaten up, musty, and one even had some bird feathers stuck in the bottom (I don’t ask questions), but they were perfect!

I hosed them down, let them dry, and started using them. Now I am one step closer to completing the “rustic America” theme that I have been wanting for my screened-in porch. Still have reupholstering patio cushions (here's the post!), outdoor carpeting or large rug, and a flag from old barn wood (here's the post!).

For those wondering, I don’t have a liner in the crab baskets yet, so for now we’re rinsing our containers and letting them dry before putting them in the baskets. It's a good practice for any recycling storage container that you thoroughly rinse the items and let them dry beforehand. This will keep your bin cleaner for a lot longer and will reduce nasty odors.

Future Project:

I'd love to build this so I can stack the bins and make more efficient use of the space! Might be a while before you see that blog post, though.