The $100 Recycling Center, Part 1

Recycling bins

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Does your library have a recycling program? If not, why not? Could it be that you feel establishing one would be a daunting task or that it would be cost-prohibitive? If that’s the case, I’m here to report that it’s not.

Below is a “simplified” step-by-step guide to establishing a recycling center in your library. They’re the steps that my library followed in creating its recycling center.

1. Find a space. It doesn’t have to be large. In fact, it’s more important that it be near the library’s entrance so that patrons can drop off their recyclables upon entering the building. The recycling center I established happens to be located on a previously unused window seat ledge.

2. Decide what you are going to collect and purchase a corresponding number of recycling bins. After much research, I found the perfect bins at the Container Store on sale for $7.99 each. Initially, I used one mismatched cardboard box after another but my aim was to create a neat unified look and the Container Store bins did the trick.

3. Promote the recycling center in your library newsletter and watch the items trickle in and community involvement grow.

That’s it.

Since I established the recycling center one year ago, we have collected and recycled and/or properly disposed of over a thousand pairs of eyeglasses, cell phones, compact fluorescent bulbs, #5 plastic containers (which include empty medicine bottles), compact disks, Brita water filters, hearing aids, keys, and corks. We even have a bin to collect items for the local animal shelter.

The tab for my efforts came to less than $75 and remains a work in progress. Below is a picture of the recycling center.

In part two, I will discuss specifics including deciding what to accept for recycling, where to take your items for recycling, how to recruit patron volunteers to keep the effort alive, and how one key patron made all the difference in the world in making our recycling center a reality.