21 Things You Didn’t Know You Can Recycle

  1. Appliances: Goodwill accepts working appliances, www.goodwill.org, or you can contact the Steel Recycling Institute to recycle them. www.recycle-steel.org or 800-YES-I-CAN.
  2. Batteries: Rechargeable and single use: Battery Solutions, www.batteryrecycling.com or 734-467-9110
  3. Cardboard boxes: Contact local non-profits or women’s shelters to see if they can use them. Or, offer them up at your local www.Freecycle.org or on www.Craigslist.org . If your workplace collects 100 or more per month, www.usedcardboardboxes.com accepts them for resale.
  4. CDs/DVDs/Game Disks: Send scratched music or computer CD’s, DVD’s and PlayStation or Nintendo video game disks to Aural Tech for refinishing, and they will work like new, www.auraltech.com or 888-454-3223.
  5. Clothes: Wearable clothes can go to your local Goodwill outlet or shelter. Donate wearable women’s business clothes to ‘Dress for Success’, which gives them to low-income women as they search for jobs, www.dressforsuccess.org or 212-532-1922. Offer unwearable clothes to local animal shelters or boarding 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, saving money on a new fall wardrobe and/or back-to-school clothes and 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 find 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, both local and national, at www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.html
  9. Exercise videos: Swap them with others, 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, www.epspackaging.org/info.html or 410-451-8340.
  12. Ink/toner cartridges: www.recycleplace.com pays $1 each.
  13. Miscellaneous: Get your unwanted items in the hands of people who can use them. Offer them up on your local www.craigslist.org or try giving them away at www.throwplace.com, or selling them or giving them away at www.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, www.recycleoil.org or 202-682-8000.
  15. Phones: For cell phones: ‘Collective Good’ will refurbish your phone and sell it to someone in a developing country www.collectivegood.com or 770-856-9021. ‘Call to Protect’ reprograms cell phone to dial 911 and gives them to domestic violence victims, www.donateaphone.com . For single- line phones: Give them to Reclamare, www.reclamare.com or 814-386-2927.
  16. Sports equipment: Resell or trade it in at your local Play It Again Sports Outlet, www.playitagainsports.com or 800-476-9249.
  17. "Technotrash": Easily recycle all of your CD’s, jewel cases, DVD’s, audio and video tapes, cell phones, pagers, rechargeable and single use batteries, PDA’s, and ink/toner cartridges at GreenDisk’s Technotrash program. For $30, GreenDisk will send you a cardboard box in which you can ship up to 70 pounds of any of the above. Your fee covers the box as well as the shipping and recycling fees, www.greendisk.com or 800-305-GREENDISK (800-305-4733)
  18. Tennis shoes: Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring, www.nikeshoes.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 into plastic lumber. ‘Recycline’ products are made from used Stonyfield Farms’ yogurt cups, www.recycline.com or 888-354-7296.
  20. Tyvek envelopes: For quantities less than 25: Send to Shirley Cimburke, Tyvek Recycling Specialist, 5401 Jefferson Davis Hwy, Spot 197, Room 231, Richmond, VA. 23234. For quantities larger than 25, call 866-33-TYVEK (866-338-9835).

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.