Pop quiz: What was one of the first things to be sold on the international plastics market when Coeur d’Alene changed the way it recycles? Answer: About 16,000 blue recycling bins. Yes, the bins. Poof. Gone. “We were flooded with bins. They all came through here,” says Steve Moon, plant manager for a local firm that sorts and sells Coeur d’Alene’s recyclables. The bins were sold in Canada, which has an active market for many kinds of recycled plastics, he adds. In mid-October, Coeur d’Alene took a great leap forward into what is known as single-stream recycling, a program that more than doubles the kinds of household items taken for recycling. And it’s simple: Everything is dumped into a collection cart that is sorted elsewhere/Kevin Taylor, Inlander. More here.

Question: I'm using my old, dark-blue, recycling "box" for kindling. What are you using yours for?