Things You Never Knew You Could Recycle

I signed up for Earth911 a long time ago. They have some interesting stuff on there. Yesterday was 30+ Things You Didn’t Know You Could Recycle. It was broken down into categories. I picked a few out of those to share with you….

Plastic Baggies:

Now I knew I could  take those plastic shopping bags to my local grocery store and recycle them, but I did not know I could take sandwich baggies too. According to Earth911 you can recycle all of those gallon bags, snack bags and sandwich bags all at the same place! You o need to make sure they  are cleaned. I try not to use them, but with kids in school, I do end up using a few. I try to use containers instead.

There are over 15,000 drop-off locations around the country for plastic bags, which helps make recycling them much easier. Some stores take bread bags too!

Old or Unwanted Dishes:

You can always take old or wanted dished to the thrift store and donate them. Or even Freecycle them.

But broken dishes? Broken ceramic dishes can be donated or used for art projects such as mosaics. Check your local artists’ organizations to see if they’d like your dish pieces.

Another option is to check with local recycling facilities that accept concrete or brick. Some of these facilities may accept ceramic plates, National Geographic reports, in addition to broken construction materials. Often, ceramic materials are ground up and turned into gravel.

Old Pillows:

I wrote a post about this last year. I had some old pillows that I hated to throw a way, so I repurposed them to make pillows for my patio. I cut the pillow in half and placed in some pretty material I found at the store. perfect!!

Pillows are not something that you can just donate. You could turn one into a dog bed or use while gardening to pad your knees.

Glasses:

I worked at an eye doctor for many years and always had people calling in asking where they can take their old glasses.  Lions clubs will accept glasses through their Lions Recycle for Sight program, which collects the glasses, sorts them by prescription and sends them to people who need them. Some optical stores will collect them, ours did not, but my son’s school would take and donate them to the Lions Club. So I always had a bag under my desk with glasses.

Shoes:

You can donate old shoes to a thrift store, but if they are too worn out, you can still donate them to a different cause.

For those athletic shoes that you’ve worn out, you can send them to Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program, which will actually shred the shoes and use the materials. The rubber, foam and fabric can be used in many ways and often find their way into athletic surfaces and playgrounds.

My son’s school used to have a donation box where you could drop off those old, unwanted shoes.

Hair:

Really? Yup! Human hair is compostable and recyclable. My son’s new roommate also says doggy hair can be used to put around your house to keep critters away. She is a groomer and saves her dogs fur for just that reason.

Donating your hair could help clean up future oil spills. San Francisco nonprofit Matter of Trust collects human and pet hair to create booms that soak up oil. Currently, warehouses are full, but you can be placed on the email alert list when the need arrives again.

Wine:

Another, really? But thin k about it. After you drink the wine, the glass is recyclable. The corks are recyclable. And any leftover wine can be tossed in the compost pile! Look for drop off locations for your corks at ReCORK America

Keys:

This is a great idea! We all have a drawer full of miscellaneous keys, but you don’t have to toss them in the trash. They’re made of valuable metal, after all. Keys For Kindness is a small, family-run program designed to raise money through metal key recycling for the Multiple Sclerosis society. The donor pays for shipping, but we’re sure karma points are said donor’s future.

Trophies:

We have lots of these! We even threw some out last week! I never knew I could donate them to be recycled. I will not throw another on away!

Total Awards & Promotions, Inc. has a trophy recycling program to benefit charities. Through a mail-in program, the company recycles your defunct awards or re-engraves and donates them to nonprofit organizations. One of many trophy recycling programs offered nationwide, the company also manufacturers its own awards made of recycled glass and newsprint.

Want more ideas? Check out Earth911.

Most pictures and information taken from Earth911. I added my own opinions and thoughts as I saw fit.

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

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