Recycling Bins that aren't ugly?

Question

At my job, we are becoming green, however my boss is very picky about how the office looks. Nothing taped to the cubicle walls, and our receptionist walks around daily looking for the smallest stains on the floor to clean up.

He is obsessive compulsive when it comes to keeping our office stylish looking and clean. So.. I have a problem. When we are trying to implement a recycling system, I have the challenge of trying to find some recycling receptacles that would be acceptable to him.

This means that it can't be a huge big blue trashcan in the middle of our Cafe.

I need some small containers for cans, plastic bottles, and paper.

Would anyone know of a website or a store that sells recycling bins that are not ugly or an eye sore.

Please provide websites if possible. I live in Kansas, so please limit it to US websites. Thanks.

Answer 1

We purchased ours at Ikea.  Although I think they are technically storage bins, we use them for our recycling and, as a bonus, they stack on one another to save space and come in two different sizes, depending on your needs.  

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/produc...   (If this link is not working, go to Ikea's website and search for "Sortera," which is the name of the item.)

Other places that have interesting recycling containers include

amazon.com

containerstore.com

stacksandstacks.com

When we were searching for ours, we happened upon many different kinds, including ones that didn't even look like recycling bins.  If all else fails, I simply did a Google search for "recycling bin" and also checked out places such as nextag, pricegrabber, Google products, bizrate, etc. to find ideas and prices for different recycling bins.

Answer 2

Try wicker baskets, or wood boxes (natural or painted to 'blend in').  I keep two baskets, one for paper and the other for the cans and bottles; we have pick up for paper recycling at work, and I take the basket with cans/bottles home with me on Friday, deal with the contents in our household recycling, and take it back into the office on Monday morning.  Also, I opted for sizes that slide under my desk so for the most part they're more or less out of sight.

Answer 3

You may have to turn to european companies (they are typically more "design" than US companies). Many have USA offices or distributors. one of tem is Brabantia. Check out their Twin Bin  (http://www.brabantia.com/Index.php?page_... Or, for an overview of what's available, the UK's http://www.homerecycling.co.uk/index.htm... has a large selection. Some of them may be available locally.

If you prefer a recycling center built into a cabinet, Richelieu's US distributors may just have what you need http://www.richelieu.com/produit/recherc...

Answer 4

You can use any container to collect recyclables, I'd start with more stylish stainless steel garbage cans.  Get custom car decals made to use as labels (they'll stick to just about any clean, smooth surface and you can use any style/design/color you want).  Most malls have a kiosk that does this, or you can find websites by searching for "custom car decals".