Recycling has a dirty little secret. "The challenge is, we're all trying to hide it," says Stephanie Nicholson of City Mill. No one wants crushed cans, wadded-up newspapers and old beer bottles as part of their decor. But should we allow this to deter us from recycling? Absolutely not.

While prettying up the home recycling area, it's important to keep in mind the convenience factor. The key to a functional recycling center, said Kelly Galvin, owner of Organized in Paradise, is to "Make it easy and quick. People want to recycle," but if it isn't convenient, it won't happen.

We talked to people in the know about how to set up a recycling center that's not an interior design debacle.

• City Mill's Nicholson uses a system from Simple Human that can be housed inside a cabinet, but is handsome enough that she keeps it out in her kitchen. She loves that it locks on top so she doesn't have to worry about critters getting inside. It's called the Slim Plastic Step Can ($45).

• Interior designer Shari Saiki, CEO of Shari Saiki Design Studio, said the kitchens she designs now usually have a cabinet with pull-out drawers dedicated to recycling materials.

• Interior designer Kathy Merrill Kelley, principal of Merrill & Associates, likes to add an Asian touch to her decor, including her recycling area. She found two attractive solutions at City Mill. One is a resin tower ($90) into which she places three baskets ($20 each) for paper, cans and bottles. Another is a smaller metal tower with sea grass drawers that slide out easily. This unit is on wheels so it can easily be moved all around the house or apartment.

• At http://www.thecontainerstore.com, Kelley discovered a sleek and contemporary recycling unit by Dottus from Italy ($180) that can be mounted on a wall or in a cabinet or can sit on the floor.

• For those who can spare a cupboard, Kelley recommends the Simple Human slide-out unit with two sections, which, at 19 inches high, can fit under a counter. She found it at City Mill ($180).

• For her personal recycling, Kelley keeps several attractive Balinese baskets in her kitchen. When the baskets start to fill up, she carries them to her garage recycling center.

• Interior designer Glenda Anderson, CEO of Details International, is always happy when a client wants to build in a recycling center. "My favorite is in the backsplash of the kitchen," she explained. "You put the recycling bins outside in the garage or yard and just shove the recycling stuff through a little door in the backsplash and it goes right into the bins." Of course this only works if your kitchen wall is opposite the garage or yard.

• When designing a Kailua home for a client, Anderson built a recycling center into the wall of their kitchen office. The residents lift up a narrow horizontal door behind the desk and put their recyclables right through the pukas. The outdoor bins are housed in a little "bin hale" with a roof to keep the critters out.

• Anderson's favorite solution for space-starved apartment dwellers is to put the recycling center inside a piece of furniture. "Build a little bench seat with three sections inside, upholster the top and it doubles as a shoe bench or extra seating," she explained. An airtight liner and frequent emptying are critical in this case.