23 Ways to Recycle Your Stuff

Just passing on a list I received a few years ago!! Declutter away!! Feel free to share your recycling tips too!!   23 things that maybe you didn't know you could recycle 1. Appliances: Goodwill accepts working appliances  http://www.goodwill .org or you can contact the Steel Recycling Institute to recycle them. 800/YES-1-CAN, http://www.recycle- steel.org 2. Batteries: Rechargeables and single-use: Battery Solutions, 734/467-9110, http://www.batteryrecycling. com or drop them off at Best Buy 3. Cardboard boxes: Contact local nonprofits and women's shelters to see if they can use them. If your workplace collects at least 100 boxes or more each month, http://www.UsedCardboardBoxes.com accepts them for resale. 4. CDs/DVDs/Game Disks: Send scratched music or computer CDs, DVDs, and PlayStation or Nintendo video game disks to AuralTech for refinishing, and they'll work like new: 888/454-3223, http://www.auraltech.com 5. Clothes: Wearable clothes can go to your local Goodwill outlet or shelter. Donate wearable women's business clothing to Dress for Success, which gives them to low-income women as they search for jobs, 212/532-1922, http://www.dressforsuccess.org Offer unwearable clothes and towels to local animal boarding and shelter facilities, which often use them as pet bedding. Consider holding a clothes swap at your office, school, faith congregation or community center. Swap clothes with friends and colleagues, save money on a new fall wardrobe and back-to-school clothes - then donate the rest. 6. Compact fluorescent bulbs: Take them to your local IKEA store for recycling: http://www.ikea.com 7. Compostable bio-plastics: You probably won't be able to compost these in your home compost bin or pile. Find a municipal composter to take them to at http://www.findacomposter.com 8. Computers and electronics: Find the most responsible recyclers, local and national, at http://www.ban.org/pledge/Locations. html 9. Exercise videos: Swap them with others at http://www.videofitness.com 10. Eyeglasses: Your local Lion's Club or eye care chain may collect these. Lenses are reground and given to people in need. Also, donate to  http://neweyesfortheneedy.org/  11. Foam Packing peanuts: Your local pack-and-ship store will likely accept these for reuse. Or, call the Plastic Loose Fill Producers Council to find a drop-off site: 800/828-2214. For places to drop off foam blocks for recycling, contact the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers, 410/451-8340, http://www.epspacka ging.org/ info.html 12. Ink/toner cartridges: http://www.Recycleplace.com pays $1/each. 13. Miscellaneous: Get your unwanted items into the hands of people who can use them. Offer them up on your local http://www.Freecycle.org or Craigslist.org or try giving them away at http://www.Throwplace.com or giving or selling them at http://www.iReuse.com will also help you find a recycler, if possible, when your items have reached the end of their useful lifecycle. 14. Oil: Find Used Motor Oil Hotlines for each state: 202/682-8000, http://www.recycleo il.org 15. Phones: Donate cell phones: Collective Good will refurbish your phone and sell it to someone in a developing country: 770/856-9021, http://www.collectivegood.com Call to Protect reprograms cell phones to dial 911 and gives them to domestic violence victims: http://www.donateaphone.com Recycle single-line phones: Reclamere, 814/386-2927, http://www.reclamere.com 16. Sports equipment: Resell or trade it at your local Play It Again Sports outlet, 800/476-9249, http://www.playitagainsports. com 17. "Technotrash" : Easily recycle all of your CDs, jewel cases, DVDs, audio and video tapes, cell phones, pagers, rechargeable and single-use batteries, PDAs, and ink/toner cartridges with GreenDisk's Technotrash program. For $30, GreenDisk will send you a cardboard box in which you can ship them up to 70 pounds of any of the above. Your fee covers the box as well as shipping and recycling fees. 800/305-GREENDISK, http://www.greendisk.com 18. Tennis shoes: Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring. http://www.nikereus eashoe.com One World Running will send still-wearable shoes to athletes in need in Africa, Latin America, and Haiti. http://www.oneworld running.com 19. Toothbrushes and razors: Buy a recycled plastic toothbrush or razor from Recycline, and the company will take it back to be recycled again into plastic lumber. Recycline products are made from used Stonyfield Farms' yogurt cups. 888/354-7296, http://www.recycline.com 20. Tyvek envelopes: Quantities less than 25: Send to Shirley Cimburke, Tyvek Recycling Specialist, 5401 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Spot 197, Room 231,Richmond, VA 23234. Quantities larger than 25, call 866/33-TYVEK. 21. CDs/DVDs/Videogames /Books: At http://www.swaptree .com List your item(s) you want to trade and you'll receive an email when someone else wants your item in exchange for another item. Just drop your unwanted item in the mail and wait for your "new" item to come to you. 22. Wire Hangers: Take them to your local cleaners. They will take them and reuse them. 23. Stuff you just can't recycle: When practical, send such items back to the manufacturer and tell them they need to manufacture products that close the waste loop responsibly.