1. Appliances: Goodwill accepts working appliances, www.goodwill.org, or
you can contact the Steel Recycling Institute to recycle them.
800/YES-1-CAN, www.recycle-steel.org
2. Batteries: Rechargeables and single-use: Battery Solutions,
734/467-9110, www.batteryrecycling.com
3. Cardboard boxes: Contact local nonprofits and women's shelters to see
if they can use them. Or, offer them up at your local Freecycle.org
listserv or on Craigslist.org. If your workplace collects at least 100
boxes or more each month, 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, 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, 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: 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 www.findacomposter.com
8. Computers and electronics: Find the most responsible recyclers,
local and national, at www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.html
9. Exercise videos: Swap them with others at 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.
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, www.epspackaging.org/info.html
12. Ink/toner cartridges: 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 Freecycle.org or Craigslist.org
listserv, or try giving them away at Throwplace.com or giving or selling
them at iReuse.com. 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,
www.recycleoil.org
15. Phones: Donate cell phones: Collective Good will refurbish your
phone and sell it to someone in a developing country: 770/856-9021,
www.collectivegood. com. Call to Protect reprograms cell phones to dial
911 and gives them to domestic violence victims: www.donateaphone.com .
Recycle single-line phones: Reclamere, 814/386-2927, www.reclamere.com
16. Sports equipment: Resell or trade it at your local Play It Again
Sports outlet, 800/476-9249, 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,
www.greendisk.com
18. Tennis shoes: Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into
playground and athletic flooring. www.nikereuseashoe.com. One World
Running will send still-wearable shoes to athletes in need in Africa,
Latin America, and Haiti. www.oneworldrunning.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, 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. 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.
From www.coopamerica.org
