NO, this isn’t about dusting off your old poems – It’s about stuff, and how you can get rid of it (or get it back, working like new!) safely and be totally eco too!
via email
[Source: Coop America]
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.batteryrecyclin g.com.
3. Cardboard boxes: Contact local nonprofits and
women’s shelters to see if they Boxcan use them. Or,
offer up used cardboard boxes at your local
Freecycle.org listserv or on Craigslist.org for others
who may need them for moving or storage. 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, and
save money on a new fall wardrobe and back-to-school
clothes.
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 Glassesare reground
and given to people in need.
11. Foam packing: Your local pack-and-ship store will
likely accept foam peanuts 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 Cellphoneit 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.playitagainspor ts.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 ToothbrushRecycline , 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.