I am curious to hear thoughts on the "standard" colour of recycling bins or a colour we most commonly associate with recycling bins in North America. We are trying to standardize colour of bins on campus and want to be sure that we don't create another barrier to participation.
Aynsley Toews
United States
Best Colour for Recycling Bins
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June 27, 2011 11:04 AM
I agree with Ken's observations. Most variations from those colors result from corporate color branding
john davis
mojave desert and mountain recycling authority
United States
June 30, 2011 11:33 AM
In Nova Scotia (as Ken pointed out) we are pretty consistent on maintaining Blue, green and Black. Further to that we tend to use the earthy Brown for Backyard composting. Colours are not the only cues; it is important to take as much of the thought process from the waste generator as possible - in this we have also developed a template of size and shape of the holes or slots in a container as well. It has also been studied that pictures (with the simple word title and colour) is more effective than listing items or clipart type images. I have a pdf of a booklet we use to pass along to businesses and municipalities as a guide to the right way to set up effective sorting that I am happy to share.
Valda Walsh
Region 6 Solid Waste
July 25, 2011 08:52 AM
Hi
Engalnd and Wales national recycling campaigns use standard colours as follows:
Red - plastics
Dark blue - paper
light blue - glass
green - compostables
black - rubbish
grey - cans
I run the Wales event recycling project and use these standard colours at all events to ensure consistent/ standard messaging.
http://www.recyclenow.com/ - UK wide recycling campaign website
http://www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk/ - Wales specific camapign website
http://www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk/recycle/eventsrecyclingguide.html - link to event recycling page
Ruth
Ruth Llewellyn
Data & Information Officer
Cylch
Wales
...
Hi Aynsley,
By observation, I have found that the following colours are pretty much standard in North America:
Blue - recycling
Green - composting
Black - waste
Yellow or Red - medical or hazardous wastes
As someone pointed out at the Recycling Council of British Columbia earlier this month, yellow and red should be avoided for anything other than medical or hazardous wastes, otherwise you may get unwanted materials in a usually benign stream.
I hope this helps.
Ken Donnelly
Vice President, Atlantic Canada
Lura Consulting
Canada
www.beyondattitude.com