Infrared

Infrared trash cans are great for the home of the neurotic or in a dentists’ or doctors’ office. They function with an infrared sensor that makes the lid open when you hover your hand a few inches over it. It’s like magic – you don’t have to be anywhere near AIDS-ridden needles or spit-saturated gloves (from a doctors’ or dentists) or near horrible things like banana peels and rotting food. Basically, anywhere you don’t want to be near your trash is a place for the infrared trash can. They can be a tad expensive, but this is the price of safety.

Specialty Recycle Bins

Recycling’s big hassle is the sorting, especially with things that are recycled less often than usual. A prime example of this is a battery recycle bin, which is built to look like a battery. This is helpful if, for some bizarre reason, you go through enough batteries to merit a bin devoted to them. In the same vein, the “container” is designed with your cans in mind – like the battery bin, it’s shaped like the vessel that goes in it. A can. This is a nice novelty for your house, but it’s not very practical. It’s best used if you run a business of some variety, like one on a beach or near a food court.

Heavy Duty Recycling

If you run a business like a bar or restaurant, chances are you generate a lot of recycling. You need somewhere to put all these bottles and cans, and the place for it is a heavy duty recycle bin. These are roughly the same size as a dumpster, and serve their purpose well – holding large amounts of recycling. Some are simply dumpsters by another name, while some come emblazoned with a recycling symbol for better use. Some are called trucks, which means they have two (not four) wheels. This means that it is substantially easier to shuttle your recycling around and tip it out.

Trash Can Materials

There are a number of trashcan materials available to you for your interior trashcan needs. The most common – and versatile – is plastic, which fits with any design scheme in any room. It is easy to clean and easy on the budget, so if you want to solve your trash problems with one afternoon at IKEA, plastic is the way to go. However, metal, wood, and leather can all work very well, although they are room-specific and cost more. Metal goes in the kitchen, leather in the office, and wood in the bedroom. If you splash out and do this, you interior design scheme will be subtly – yet significantly – improved.

Compost

Composting is an excellent way to get rid of your organic waste. You could get a pig and just have him or her eat it, but not everyone wants livestock in their yard. What’s more, pigs kind of smell and it’s very sad when you have to send them to the abattoir to become bacon. A compost bin turns your apple cores and leftover food into nutrient-rich fertilizer for your garden or indoor plants. You can just fence off a section of your garden, but this is very difficult to contain or manage – soon, the fertilizer will have fertilized a bunch of weeds, and instead of a compost pile you’ll just have a weedy hill. So get a compost bin.