Practically Perfect:
JosephJoseph Totem Bin
Much of this blog is about the finishing touches that make a house into a home: decorative accessories; nice bedding; furniture and home furnishings. I’m not a home owner so these things are the means by which I, and many renters like me, personalise space when a complete makeover is out of the question.
I’m loathe to show you a before and after picture – I’ll save it to the end of the post – but my previous recycling/waste set up was an Aldi shopping carrier and a small 12-litre inside-cupboard bin that was now an outside-cupboard-on-the-floor bin. Both were by my back door, so you had to battle past these eyesores if you entered or exited that way.
After lusting over a JosephJoseph Totem bin since I saw one featured on The Twinkle Diaries blog, I was eager to replace my less than ideal set up with something similar. Living on my own, I didn’t need the wonderful, but rather monumental, Totem 60, so instead opted for the Totem 48, a more compact version for smaller kitchens (and in my case, smaller volumes of waste).
I feel a little silly raving about a bin (and wait till I get on to ironing boards!) but my, this is one sexy bin. And that’s the whole point of this series and celebrating the mundane – you never see people’s bins in the glossy homes and interiors magazines (check this out, it’s true!), but how many times a day do we put something in the bin or recycling, so why shouldn’t that experience be made a pleasant one? And that’s what good design does.
Just look at the Totem 48 with its sleek stainless steel top. Pressing the button makes the lid silently glide up, revealing a perfectly proportioned rectangular waste receptacle – in JosephJoseph lime green, shown below lined with the proprietary grey refuse sack with lime green tie handles (the colour coordination is killing me!). Even with my old bin I bought that brand’s tie-handle refuse sacks – it might seem like an unnecessary expense when you could use any supermarket carrier or plastic bag, but you’ll just have to take my word that it is worth it!
Because of the generous proportions, there is no precarious angling of delph* in order to get scraps in without spilling over the sides, and another great feature is the odour control in the lid – perfect for me as my waste is mainly fruit and veg peelings, as I don’t have a garden, allotment, pigs, chickens or an organic waste collection! If you do, the Totem 60 with its separate organic waste collection unit would be ideal.
*I think delph might be an Irish expression – for crockery – as I don’t hear people saying it here?
Underneath the bin section is the recycling drawer, which again is really well designed, smoothly pulling out to its full capacity and containing a lime green receptacle with an internal (removable) separator so you can keep different types of materials in discrete compartments. I was worried that this section might be too small, as I recycle a lot, and my Aldi bag was always overflowing, but I need not have fretted – even with the divider in, the Totem 48 recycling drawer will easily take 1.5 litre bottles – probably the biggest items I ever recycle.
The recycling drawer also has clever liner-retaining holes, breather vents and carrier bag hooks – JosephJoseph have thought of everything and I can see why they call this system ‘intelligent’! Check out the video to see the Intelligent Waste system of the Totem bin in action:
I’m absolutely delighted with the Totem 48 bin. My rented kitchen is a bit tired in the decor department, so this little but significant improvement has made a big difference to how I feel when spending time there. Now instead of a pile of clutter in that neglected corner by the back door, its lovely shine welcomes me and keeps everything contained, tidy and odour-free. Bye bye Aldi bag, Hello Totem!
Thank you to JosephJoseph who sent me a Totem 48 to review.
All opinions and words are my own and honest.
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Twitter:
on August 24, 2016 at 11:37 am
WOW that is amazing and I am totally with you on how gorgeous it looks and it is a brilliant idea to have two bins in 1, I have two 50 litre bins and they don’t really fit well in my new house, we have to move 1 to get into the freezer and I keep moving them around but as i am tackling the ground floor next week which includes how it works and what storage we need etc, the bin situation is on my radar. I have two teenagers at home so that wouldn’t be big enough for me as I empty both of my bins daily and they get through gallon’s of water bottles since we moved as I wasn’t able to bring my American fridge with built in water filter! It has given me a kick to start bin hunting though and re- think how we currently use them! food for thought , Emma xx #HomeEtc
Twitter:
on August 24, 2016 at 10:21 pm
OOH this looks like the bin of dreams! It looks great and I’m with you on the coordinating bags too. We currently have a little caddy for the compost bin and two huge bins, one for recycling and one for rubbish but they all take up so much space. This all in one solution looks perfect, but I think I’d need to go for the bigger one like Caro as there are four of us. I have quite a few Joseph Joseph things and they always last so well xx #HomeEtc
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on August 27, 2016 at 11:46 am
The best bin I’ve ever seen! What a great product 🙂 Caro had something similar and I loved that one too! Thanks for sharing, as always. Love Jess xx
#HomeEtc
Twitter:
on August 30, 2016 at 11:22 am
It’s literally the best bin in the ENTIRE world. And I can say this with some certainty as I have the Totem 60. I am totally and utterly in love with ours — it’s as sleek as a Ferrari and has transformed how we recycle things in our kitchen. Totally love them. As Becky (above) said, it’s the bin of dreams!! LOVE Joseph Joseph products — so clever and they look fabulous!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing xx Caro #HomeEtc
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on September 4, 2016 at 6:36 pm
It looks great – and I’ve seen these bins before and I’m always impressed with how sleek they look. They should inspire people to start recycling 🙂 #homeetc
Twitter:
on October 6, 2016 at 12:13 pm
I love this bin, I remember seeing Caro share it and it is still very much on my wish list.
OOh I have bin envy!
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