Real Simple recycling tips
Paper, plastic, glass. Recycling those are easy. But some of the other stuff - carpeting, batteries, gadgets - gets tricky. Lucky for us the September issue of Real Simple has tips on how to recycle almost anything. The best tips are below.
Backpacks - donate to the American Birding Association, which gives the backpacks to scientists in the field.
Batteries - RadioShack and Office Depot accept rechargeable ones. Places that sell car batteries will usually dispose of your old one.
Carpeting (nylon fiber) - Visit CarpetRecovery.org to find a reclamation site near you. The manufacturer you bought it from may also have a recycling program.
Crayons - The National Crayon Recycle Program will take care of them. Just remember to leave the wrappers on. It's hard to tell which color is which without them.
Crocs - The manufacturer recycles the shoes into new ones and donates them poor families. Mail them to Crocs Recycling West, 3375 Enterprise Ave, Bloomington CA 92316.
Formal wear - Here are two options, aside from Goodwill and Salvation Army, where you can drop off that fancy dress you'll never wear again. OperationFairyDust.org and CatherinesCloset.org.
Hangars (wire) - remove the paper or cardboard and you can...
... toss them in with your regular recycling.
Holiday cards - Let your old holiday cards benefit a disadvantaged child by sending them to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, where kids glue the covers onto paper and re-sell them.
Keys, nail clippers, metal flatware - anything that is not a can can be considered scrap metal and is valuable. Toss it into your regular recycling.
Read the full list (through the letter M. Next month's issue has the rest of the alphabet.) Stay tuned.
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About The Bargain Hunter
Daily News staff writer Julia Scott loves to find bargains on everything from groceries to Gucci. Her tips will help keep your hard earned cash where it belongs - in your pocket.
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I read recently in Heliose's newspaper column that St. Jude's no longer has the Holiday card recycling program.
For household hazardous waste (paint, oil, computers, cell phones, TVs, regular batteries etc), there are several free drop off locations (SAFE Centers) throughout the city of Los Angeles. For more info on recylcing and disposing of dangerous materias, check out:http://www.lacity.org/san/solid_resources/index.htm
There is even information about how to safely dispose of srynges, etc.
You can also recycle any battery at Staples. They also have a ink cartridge recycling program. If you have a Staples membership, they will give you $3 back for every cartridge,when they send you your check for purchases. Membership is free. I hardly ever shop there, and I just got a $15 check from them to use at their store. I bought some more cartridges!
Office Depot has a similar program for recycling ink cartridges: $3 toward your purchase of anything. It's in the form of a "coupon" rather than included in their Rewards check.
Now that temperatures are dropping faster than the leaves, its time to switch out our closets.
Soooo, as you pull out those old, favorite wool and cashmere sweaters, if you see any that have holes
in them, send them our way.
We're not asking for good sweaters - give those to homeless shelters or resale shops - we just want
your hole-y, damaged, shrunken sweaters. We are going to recycle them into rugs, but don't want
to take good sweaters away from people that need them.
Please send sweaters to:
Wool Sweaters
PO Box 2603
Glen Burnie, Maryland 21060-2603
United States
Thank you for your donation!