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How to get rid of practically anything
(This article is adapted from the March 2010 Consumer Reports magazine.)
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You can help the planet and, at the same time, expand your attic, basement, bedroom, closets, garage, and other spaces without paying a dime to a contractor. Here’s how: sell, donate, recycle, or otherwise get rid of stuff that you no longer want, that others could use, and that's taking up too much space in your home.
There’s a national clearinghouse for all types of recycling located online at www.earth911.com. You can get local recycling information there for most of the items listed below.
Appliances
When you buy a large appliance, most retailers will haul away the old one. ApplianceSmart.com, Best Buy, Sears, and some utilities participate in the EPA's Responsible Appliance Disposal Program, which ensures, among other things, that chemicals are recovered and the metal, plastic, and glass are recycled.
Some utilities will pay you to dispose of an energy-wasting appliance. Find out whether your town or county government offers an appliance-recycling program or locate one on the Steel Recycling Institute's website, at www.recycle-steel.org
To donate appliances large and small in good condition, check with your local Goodwill (see locator.Goodwill.org for retail locations), or with Habitat for Humanity ReStore outlets, Salvation Army, Vietnam Veterans of America, or other charity.
Building supplies
According to the nonprofit BuildItGreen.org, a large percentage of our waste in landfills is from building materials, which could have been salvaged and reused. To find a certified green professional to salvage materials from your own remodeling project, visit their website’s professional directories.
Habitat for Humanity ReStores also can sell reusable and surplus or leftover building materials from retailers and homeowners. For additional options, go to www.earth911.com and type in the item you want to donate.
Bicycles
Several organizations specialize in refurbishing bikes and sending them to developing countries. For local bike shops and groups involved in this kind of work, go to the International Bicycle Fund website.
The nonprofit Recycle-a-Bicycle in New York City (www.recycleabicycle.org) takes used bikes to help teach kids bicycle repair and other skills. The nonprofit Pedal Revolution bike shop in San Francisco (www.pedalrevolution.org) is similar and accepts bikes with no severe rust or damage.
Books
To sell used books, check out:
• Cash4Books.net
• BlueRocketBooks.com
• Half.com, an eBay company
• Craigslist.org
• BookScouter.com —compares prices at dozens of book-buying sites to find the one that will pay the most for your books
• Swap.com —trade-in your books, CDs, or DVDs for 50 cents or a dollar a piece plus shipping
To donate your books, contact a local library, church, day-care center, senior center, school, homeless shelter, or nonprofit agency, or try the Vietnam Veterans of America, Goodwill, or Salvation Army.
Other organizations that accept used books (typically only those in very good condition) include these:
• ReadingTree.org
• BooksForSoldiers.com —lets you send to troops once you've registered as a volunteer
• BooksForAfrica.org
Cars and trucks
Nonprofit groups, including Goodwill Industries and Habitat for Humanity, accept vehicles. Many don't care whether they run or not. Because of stricter tax rules in recent years, you shouldn't expect a whopping deduction.
To donate a vehicle, first check whether an organization is a charity that can receive tax-deductible contributions by perusing IRS Publication 78, an annual list of most charities, at www.irs.gov/eo. Look under "Search for Charities." (Some nonprofits, such as churches, are not listed.)
"A Donor's Guide to Car Donations," a free download at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/pub4303.pdf, notes what paperwork you'll need to claim a tax deduction.
Child car seats and other children’s products
Before you sell or donate any baby gear, go to www.recalls.gov to see whether items have been recalled in recent years. Standards are tougher now than even a few years ago. For baby gear in good shape, sell it on eBay or through another outlet or donate it at a Goodwill or Salvation Army thrift shop.
Consumer Reports advises against reusing child car seats. It can be hard to tell whether the plastic's strength has degraded after years of use or storage. Designate this as trash and dispose of it according to your community's rules.
Clothing and linens
Clothes are easy to send on to a new life to thrift shops and donation services. Some of them will make arrangements to pick up your donations at home or work. A number of outfits, have arrangements to pick up the clothes as well as stores where you can take them for donation.
At Goodwill, if they can't repair the clothes for sale, they'll recycle old clothing scraps into industrial wipes (cleaning cloths) for industrial buyers. Other organizations also have thrift stores, such as the Salvation Army. Call 1-800-728-7825 for details.
Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift stores also accept towels, sheets, curtains, and such. To donate well-worn towels, call your local animal shelter. Often they take them to use for pet bedding and/or for cleanup rags.
Consumer electronics
Today most electronic components can be reused, recycled, and diverted from the waste stream; for example, approximately 90 percent of computer contents can be reused or recycled.
Visit our Electronics recycling and reuse center for advice on getting rid of computers, cell phones, televisions, and other electronics. At www.earth911.com and www.digitaltips.org/green you can search for local electronics recycling programs.
Manufacturers and retailers also recycle gear. Best Buy accepts computers, TVs, CDs and more, even items not bought there. Remove your computer hard drive or the store will charge $10 to do it. Acceptable items vary somewhat by store; check at www.bestbuy.com.
Office Depot charges up to $15 for old electronics. Staples charges $10 to recycle large items, but there's no charge for Dell products.
For cell phones, check out Verizon’s Wireless Trade-in Program, which accepts all devices and models.
Sprint also offers a recycling program. Other trade-in programs for old electronic gadgets are offered by Radio Shack and Costco.
Many manufacturers and retailers such as Ace Hardware, Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe's, Office Depot, and Staples, and charities collect cell phones. Go to www.earth911.org or www.call2recycle.org and type in your ZIP code for locations near you. For an extensive list of manufacturers' individual programs, see GoodCleanTech’s Recycling Superguide.
Before you donate a phone, erase all identifying information, including your phone book, text messages, and calls you've made and received. To find out how, go online to your phone's manufacturer for instructions for the make and model of your phone. Or take the phone to your service provider's retail store, like a Verizon store, where they can walk you through the menu for erasing all the content.
Furniture
Try selling unwanted furniture on Craigslist or eBay. Early spring and back-to-school are the hot seasons, though you'll need to market skillfully. "No photo is the most common mistake," says Martin Herbst, general manager of eBay Classifieds U.S. "Bad photo is the second most common." Shoot for decent lighting and spare styling.
Charities accept furniture if it's in decent shape—no broken parts or big rips or stains. The Salvation Army and some Goodwill programs provide pickup service, usually within 48 hours, and tax receipts. Or try Freecycle.org (www.freecycle.org), a membership site where you can give and get goods free.
If the furniture is shot, ask your trash collector about curbside pickup. Haul it to the curb a day early and put a "free" sign on it, in case someone might want it. 1-800-Got-Junk, a hauler, charges $100 and up for a couch.
Bagster, at www.thebagster.com, is only available in a few areas and charges $29.95 plus a $79 to $159 collection fee for a 3-cubic-yard bag.
Household hazardous waste( CFLs, batteries, motor oil and gas, paint)
Municipalities sometimes sponsor collection days for household hazardous waste at several times a year; call your local government offices. www.earth911.com also can direct you to sites in your area.
Tossing CFLs in the trash isn't a bright idea; the bulbs contain small amounts of mercury. Some areas require recycling, so check with your sanitation department and ask about collection programs. You can also drop off used CFLs for recycling at Home Depot, Ikea, Lowe's, and some Ace Hardware stores.
It's important that you recycle rechargeable batteries, whether from a mobile phone, power drill, or any gadget, since their heavy metals are hazardous. The nonprofit Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp.'s Call2Recycle.org program lists some 30,000 collection sites in the U.S. and Canada that take these batteries. Some sites also accept single-use alkalines and button-cell batteries.
Never dump used motor oil on the ground, in the trash, or into drains or storm sewers. Pour used oil into a clean container with a secure lid and label; don't use containers that once held bleach or other chemicals. Walmart lube centers and some service stations accept used oil.
Store unwanted gasoline in a childproof metal or plastic container approved by Underwriters Laboratory or another independent testing lab. Label the container. Then contact your hazardous-waste-collection center. To reduce the need for disposal, consider using a gasoline stabilizer, which keeps gas usable for a year or more.
Paints made before 1978 might contain lead, and those made before 1991 might have mercury. If your paint doesn't contain either, ask local charities, religious organizations, or high school or college drama departments whether they can use it, or see whether your community collects paint for reuse. If there are no takers, call your municipal recycling center or household-hazardous-waste center.
Your municipality can also tell you about local requirements for proper disposal (such as taking the lid off latex paint and letting it dry before disposing of the can). Oil-based paints should be disposed of at a household-hazardous-waste collection facility.
Mattresses
They are the stuff of landfill nightmares. If you're buying a new mattress, the retailer may take away the old one, but try to find out what happens to it. Some retailers dismantle the mattress and recycle its components. If not, the mattress goes to the dump.
If it's in good condition, offer it to shelters for the homeless or battered women, or the Salvation Army. Otherwise, look for a local recycler online or by searching at www.earth911.com; you'll probably have to pay a fee. Hauling the mattress to the curb for regular trash pickup is a last resort, but be sure to check with your sanitation department. Some communities require mattresses to be wrapped in heavy plastic and sturdy tape.
Stuffed animals
For like-new items, Beanies for Baghdad, at www.beaniesforbaghdad.com, sends Beanie Babies, stuffed animals, and other items to armed service units in war-torn areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan and they distribute them to children. LovingHugs.org sends soft stuffed animals to children in war zones, refugee camps, orphanages, medical facilities, and elsewhere. With both, you pay for postage.
For well-used stuffed animals, some animal shelters use them to comfort puppies. Call yours for information.
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