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Your Guide to Recycling Household Items
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Recycling is good for the planet, its wildlife, and us! Hopefully your hometown offers a recycling program with its trash collection service and collects your standard recyclable materials—glass, plastics, cardboard, paper. If you live in a rural area, you may need to drive to the closest recycling center.
For those standard recyclables, make sure you understand which types of plastic your city accepts and if different materials should be separated and sorted beforehand. If an item has both metal and plastic components, those will need to be separated from each other, or else you risk the item “contaminating” a whole collection of recyclables that will then be put in a landfill. The same goes for cleaning off any food waste on glass, metal, plastic, and cardboard containers. If a pizza box has grease and cheese stuck to it, rip that part out and see if you can compost it, then throw the rest of the box in recycle. Food residue can ruin a whole batch of recycled paper.
Beyond this, there are ways to donate or recycle many household items, keeping them out of landfills. Use the list below for non-landfill options for unwanted items and visit the Earth911 website for more extensive options and recycle locations.
Athletic shoes
Like other clothing, accessories, and shoes, athletic shoes can be donated to second-hand stores; however, those pairs that can no longer be worn can often be recycled at local shoe stores or mailed to a recycling program.
Batteries
Rechargeable and single-use dry-cell batteries (9-volt, D, C, AA, AAA, mercuric-oxide, button, silver-oxide, zinc-air, lithium, coin) can all be recycled at specialty locations. Some public service buildings—like libraries and post offices—have drop-off bins, and some stores have battery recycle collection programs.
Coffee pods
Most coffee pods—if their metal and plastic components are separated and the coffee grounds are cleaned out—can be put in your normal recycling. Some brands allow you to recycle the pods at certain retailers. They may even give you a specific bag for collecting the pods at home and then returning them to the store!
Electronics (E-waste)
Recycling electronics helps conserve valuable resources and natural materials and avoids the air and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions caused by manufacturing virgin materials. Manufacturers and retailers usually offer options to donate or recycle electronics. Those brands include Apple, HP, Xerox, Best Buy, Staples, Sprint, LG, Samsung, Dell, Vizio, Sony, and others. Many home improvement stores accept old holiday lights and offer coupons in exchange for your earth-friendly recycling deed.
You can also bring old and broken laptops, televisions, power cords, and other electronics to any recycling center that accepts e-waste.
Ink cartridges
Ink cartridges are full of toxic materials that shouldn’t go into landfills where they can leak into the earth. Most office supply stores will take and send them to proper recycling centers.
Mattresses and box springs
Mattresses and box springs can be tricky because they are made up of recyclable materials (wire, paper, cloth) but not all cities accept them for recycling. There are lots of donation options if the mattress is in good shape, or you can visit the Earth911 website to find a list recycling centers that accept mattresses and bedsprings.
Paint
There are paint recycling programs where old paint is sent to companies that turn it into new paint. Earth911 can help you find a program in your area.
Used clothing
Some larger towns have programs that recycle clothing into seat stuffing, upholstery, or insulation. If yours doesn’t, consider donating old clothing to an animal shelter, where it can be used as pet bedding.
Plastic grocery bags
These usually aren’t accepted in the general recycling mix picked up by your city. But you can find recycle bins for plastic bags at grocery stores.
Styrofoam
Packing materials like Styrofoam peanuts and blocks can’t be recycled in most places; however, many packaging stores will accept them.
Tires
Tires can be recycled when you get new ones installed—there’s usually a recycling fee for this service, but it’s nominal, usually $10.
Used oil
Did you know the oil from a single oil change can contaminate one million gallons of fresh water if it isn’t disposed of properly? Auto garages and supply stores will accept used oil for recycling.
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