In Cambridge, UK, we get somewhere close to that with 3 bins: - Green, for compostable waste (food, leaves, shredded paper, etc.) - Blue, for recyclable waste

In Cambridge, UK, we get somewhere close to that with 3 bins: - Green, for compostable waste (food, leaves, shredded paper, etc.) - Blue, for recyclable waste (pretty much anything made of plastic, foil, paper/cardboard or glass) - Black, for everything else The only things you really have to watch out for are things like plasticised foil and styrofoam. Batteries can be tied to the top of the blue bin in a plastic bag. It works really well, and you basically just have to know what's recyclable and what isn't (which is usually written on the packaging anyway). I think our local authority is a bit ahead of the rest of the country on this, though. Most places in the UK still make you sort glass from paper, etc.