Preparing for Recycling

I have been thinking a lot about recycling lately. Portland is incredible for recycling because we have curb-side recycling with roll carts that don't, for the most part, require sorting of recyclables. The only thing is that you have to put your glass in a separate container, which even I can handle.

There are a couple of places where I think we can improve our recycling efforts:

1. We can't recycle some plastics (for example, clam shells and plastic container lids), so I'd like to find some options to address those.
2. I've posted before about my dismay with our composting efforts, and how those efforts frequently fall short. So I did something a little outside of my norm: I asked Hubby to *make* me compost barrels that I think would better suit our purposes for my birthday (which is coming up in March). He was a bit shocked at my request... it was fun, in fact, to watch him wrap his brain around the request. The request might be pretty easy for him to fulfill (and may be another bit of recycling). Apparently, we have an extra water heater in our basement, and Mother Earth News has some great plans for compost bins using a water heater (link: here). I was rather excited when I saw that the bins could be made for less than $10, until I realized that their cost estimates were from 1979. I'll have to wait for my birthday!