Recycle Smart! Use the Cart! We love you big blue.

I got really excited when I got a letter from the Mayor of Rochester in the mail telling us that we were going to be part of a single stream recycling program. I really hope this trial program will be a success for the City.

Even though I have made an Olympic sport out of sorting recycling, the idea of tossing everything - paper, glass, plastic and metal into one bin is delightful. It's pretty cool how all the different materials are separated at the recycling center using magnets, air jets, manual sorting and other methods.

No more cramming everything into the small green bins and crossing my fingers that the wind won't blow cereal boxes into the neighbors yard. The new 96 gallon container will hold eight times the volume of the old 12 gallon box. And the carts only need to be brought out when they are more than half full or full, so we can bring it out every other week or once a month.

The only person more excited than me would have to be Aaron. He actually sent me a picture of the lovely blue bin the city dropped off when he found it in our driveway.