PUTTING TRASH IN ITS PLACE

Image Gallery This trailer has been in service for more than 15 years. Not exactly a pretty sight,but it's far better than a row of trash cans and takes up no valuable workshop space.

By Carl F. Kirkpatrick

This smart-designed recycling/separation shed/trailer solves all your sorting and storage troubles!

FOR YEARS I ATTEMPTED TO MAIN-tain a neatish yard—one without rubbish barrels being my homestead's most-prominent visual feature. When I kept the barrels outside, lined up along the side of the garage, they were susceptible to critters of all sorts, wild and domestic. When inside, they took up a good deal of my workshop and invited a flow of traffic into my workspace: rubbish man, tenants, friends, and relatives. My invention of this recycling/separation shed cured all my problems, and putting it together was a fun weekend project to boot.

My shed is basically a light trailer designed and modified to store household rubbish barrels neatly and to easily transport their separated contents to the recycling center. Its specialized design holds several trash barrels, covers them with a single lid, and conceals them from view.
Sure, it's got all the visual charm of a pumphouse, but its virtues are readily apparent. It saves time in not having to load and unload the barrels; it also saves money (my trailer is 15 years old—how much do you pay for rubbish removal service in a year?).

But that's just the beginning. The trailer saves garage space; it saves the yard's appearance (mine is neatly painted and parked behind the bushes); it saves one from having to retrieve windblown cans and lids or being awoken in the middle of the night by them; and it keeps away flies, mice, rats, dogs, raccoons, and other pests.

Making the Recycling/Separation Shed

Start with a trailer—new, used, large, or small. Draw a floor plan of it on graph paper (do this first, to see if it will suit your situation). Next, find what's readily available in barrel sizes. I like to buy the "indestructible" type: They may be expensive for five or six, but they're strong, quiet, won't dent or rust, and will last forever in their protective enclosure. Measure them at the top and see how many will fit into your trailer (cut off the molded handles if they're in the way).