My village doesn't have curbside recycling, so I keep my recycleables and every week or two take the bag over to dump into my ex's recycle bin--he's in a different city with a recycle program. I compost, and I take my cardboard and newspaper over to a bin at the elementary school my children used to attend. With those three operations, I don't often have more than a small bag of trash to go out twice a week. Once a week would be fine for me.

I used to live out in a rural area in Washington State and I took my recycleables to the university where they ran a center that involved sorting glass by color, metal by type, etc. Commingled recycleable materials programs may be easier for the homeowners, but they mean very little if any profit for the company with the contract.

On the campus where I work there are trash bins with three slots--one for dropping trash and the other two for glass and aluminum. The buildings on campus have had containers for paper and aluminum and plastic for years. The Environmental Health and Safety department on campus handles recycling and they take in substantial dollars during the year, though I don't know if it truly pays for itself.

SRS