This one is kind of nice if you like stainless better than plastic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Recycling bin

I really like that white one.

We have a basket on the counter into which we toss the newspaper and all cans and bottles. (we don't have to separate them in my city.)

Everything is delivered out to the Blue Bin whenever someone is going out, or when we don't want to look at the basketful any more. It is emptied at least once a day - in the nice weather, we just walk it to the bin right away.

Be grateful you don't have to find a place for this:

and the city is soon giving us another one for our regular garbage . . . . .

Are you open to thinking a little outside the box?

Friends of mine keep their recycling in trash cans that have lids and a foot pedal to open the lid. Two of them are fairly small and are tucked under the kitchen table and the other one is larger and sits in their mudroom.

My cousin has hooks hanging on the stairwell of their cellar stairs. They sort the glass, plastic and metal into plastic bags and hang them on the hooks. (These are high enough so that they don't block the stairway and so that the dogs can't get at them.) Newspapers go in a wooden box that her husband built, right next to the fireplace. They have a gadget that rolls the newspapers into logs to burn in the fireplace.

I have a tall plastic trashcan in my study for all the paper recycling because that's where I sort the mail and read the newspaper and magazines. With the recycle "bin" right there, I don't have to remember to take the paper recycling anywhere; the recycle can sits right next to the trash can. I line it with a paper grocery bag which is what my town wants us to use for paper recycling. Both cans are tucked out of sight between my desk and the wall.

I have two plastic totes with handles that tuck away in a corner of my kitchen (my apartment has no other place to put recycling). They are taller and narrower than most recycling bins, so they take up less floor space. One is for metal, the other for glass and plastic (how the town wants us to sort things). I carry them out and put the contents in the official recycling bins that are shared by all the tenants on recycling pick-up day.

My experience with most recycling "systems" is that there is not enough room in the bins for at least one type of recycling. They clearly assume that you have the same amount of glass, plastic and metal recycling. Sometimes the lids are cumbersome.

Can you look around your home for other small spaces to put some of the recycling? Or look for any attractive containers that are the size you need? Don't lock yourself into things that are labeled as recycling bins.

No, unfortunately I just have this one spot in the mudroom for recycling and it has to be something that stacks with each section still being accessible to put things in, which is what's making this annoying. My kitchen is rather idiotically laid out (may the fleas of a thousand camels infest the PO's armpits) and the one space he left for any kind of trash is so skinny that it's taken me six months to find one to fit that is something OTHER than stainless steel - I do not care for SS, to put it very politely - and that isn't so tiny that you have to haul it out every day. Heck, HE didn't live there (flipper), what did HE care? My house is adorable but there are some things I absolutely HATE about it!

homemaker, oh yes, we have to find a place for one of those monsters too, except ours is for the trash and it's bright screaming GREEN! Hideous! We have the conventional rectangular open bins for the recycling but they want us to separate stuff now rather than putting it all in one bin like we used to. :-( I'd much rather have another one of those big jobbies to dump everything into, at least it would keep the d@mn cats and raccoons out!

Mari, there are clear versions of the polychrome stackers at Container Store that are just a tad smaller (18" wide and 20" deep if that would work) and IMO a heck of a lot nicer looking. The first one doesn't look like it would hold much.

Here is a link that might be useful: out of stock...but maybe someday?

What about this

{{!gwi}}

Product dimensions
Width: 17 3/8 "
Depth: 11 3/4 "
Height: 35 7/8 "

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea Trofast

Don't fight it - find a way. If you incorporate getting rid of your recyclables as part of your routine, it shouldn't grow to "I need to build an addition for it" proportions.

Take your recyclables back whenever you shop for new stuff. Stuff in/stuff out. Bottles, cans, plastic, paper, textiles - there are places you can take these things without waiting for the big noisy trucks to come by.

It's really easier dealing with it in small doses - it just takes a bit of thought and a change of habit.

Sorry I wasn't clear, Amy, I only have 16" front to back to work with, 23" side to side - I bought an almost identical container at either Walmart or Target and had to take it back because we kept barking our shins on it. :-( (Isn't "polychrome" such a wonderful word?)

I really like the style/idea of that Ikea one, maybe I can have someone concoct me something like it, maybe a bit taller with deeper (top-to-bottom) bins. The nearest Ikea is over 4 hrs RT in good traffic (and there's no such thing around Boston) and their shipping charges are enough to kill you twice! Thank you, Marzhere!

Oh, and happy happy joy joy, the Simplehuman slim step can arrived and it actually fit where it was supposed to go!