It's often surprising how messy a few weeks' accumulation of newspapers and recycled containers can be. Uncontained, newspapers can drift around the garage; glass and cans for recycling can quickly overflow undersized containers.
Designate an area:
The trick is to designate a recycling area that includes containers with much greater capacity than you will normally need. Then, when you fail to recycle in a timely manner, you won't be stuck with a huge mound of clutter. The first step is to identify the recycling area in your garage. For most homes, the best area is right next to the door leading into the garage. The area needs to be large enough for newspaper, glass, and metal recycling containers.
Next, you need to choose appropriate containers. Most municipalities require that you separate recyclables into paper products, glass and plastics, and metals. Think about how much of these materials you collect between recycling pickup days. Check what your town requires, then pick up appropriate containers that provide enough room for you to miss one recycling pickup. To make things easier, choose different colors of containers and label them in large letters (unless your municipality already requires that certain colors be used for different recyclables). If you're willing to spend the money, you can buy premade recycling centers, with bins that are contained in their own framework. The top-of-the-line structures have lids and include bins that tilt out. But you can certainly make do with separate bins as long as they are the right size. For a household with few people, you may need only shallow plastic tubs. For a family of four or more people, you may need small garbage cans.
For more on organizing clutter, see Good Housekeeping's The Complete Clutter Solution