I'm proud to say that my family recycles regularly and once you get into the swing of things, you'll be amazed at just how much of your regular trash can be recycled.  There's the myriad of cardboard boxes and wrappers which are used for everything from stick butter, to yogurt, to canned sodas and milk cartons.  Next, you can keep an eye out for most plastic containers like milk jugs, squeeze bottles of jelly, mustard, mayonnaise, etc.

All of this collecting is easy to do and great for the environment, but unfortunately, my kitchen counter often looks like a trash dump until we take these small items outside to our big recycling containers.  That's why I was thrilled to learn that Rubbermaid has designed the Hidden Recycler, a recycling bin which can be stored neatly inside your kitchen cabinet door. Keep reading to learn more!

The Hidden Recycler attaches to the inside of a cabinet door to collect recyclables out of sight and keeps your counters clear. The bag is durable, machine washable, and made of recycled material. Collect your recyclables and then easily lift the bag from the lid and cabinet by the handle to take them out to your recycle bin.

I was super excited to try the Hidden Recycler in our kitchen, for it would be an excellent solution to organize our recyclables until making our daily trip to the large recycle bin we have outside.  Unfortunately, the metal over-the-cabinet-door hooks included with this product did not fit our cabinet doors and I definitely did want to permanently drill into our wood cabinets.

I would have loved for Rubbermaid to have included some nifty over-the-door hooks which I could have used on my pantry door.  This is actually the place that I would have preferred installing this unit anyway, since we store our regular trash inside our pantry.

The inventor in me took over and I found a solution which enabled me to still use this item, even though it wasn't installed on the inside of our kitchen cabinet door as directed.  I simply bent the metal hooks until they were completely flat and then bought some Velcro picture hanging strips.

These strips would allow me to stick the Hidden Recycler directly to the back of my pantry door without damaging the door or the paint if I ever choose to remove it.  Once I added several recyclables, I found the Velcro wasn't strong enough to stay stuck together, but once I super glued the two Velcro sides together, this new installation method worked like a charm.

The 5-gallon size bag is still a little on the small side for my family, but I understand that there's only so big you can make a bag that is designed to fit on the inside of a typical kitchen cabinet door.  I do love that the bag is washable, has been made of 65% post-consumer resin and is easily removed and carried wherever you wish.

If you would like a quick, easy and more aesthetically pleasing way to store your small recyclables, then the Hidden Recycler from Rubbermaid is a great option.  Just make sure that the metal hook will fit your cabinet doors first or be prepared to drill into the cabinet door itself.