Mommy Goes Green

I do. not. like. clutter. I don’t like having things in or around my house that are not useful.  I regularly make trips to Goodwill, participate in children’s clothing consignment events and put items on Craigslist or eBay.  It just makes me feel more organized and cleaner when our home and life isn’t cluttered.

Lately, a pile of junk has been piling up along the side of our house – the side no one but I can see.  Old motorcycle tires, a bag of cement left in the rain, and unusable pieces of wood.  I waited (patiently impatiently) for my husband to get rid of them but after 2 summers of staring at the pile, I decided to take care of it myself.

So, with about 15 minutes worth of research and phone calls, I found out where to take our junk – and not to the landfill.  I had my husband load up the truck with all the junk in our garage and along side the house that we weren’t using anymore – it ended up being a lot more than wood, cement and tires.  A landscaping company took all the wood and bag of cement and the tire center took the motorcycle tires – all for a whopping $8.  The best trip of the day was to a recycling facility that took everything else for FREE – satellite dish, steel bars, broken plastic storage tubs, and old plastic outdoor furniture. 

I love that our old stuff won’t be sitting in a landfill for hundreds of years – it will be getting a new life.

If you’ve got junk to get rid of, try these tips to find somewhere to take your stuff :

1.  Dial up Earth911 – it’s a website where you can enter the stuff you want to get rid of and it will tell you what locations will take it in your zip code.

2.  Call your recycling service and ask what other items they might take at their facility, beyond their curbside service.  Our facility was 10 minutes away and took a lot of stuff for FREE. 

3.  If you don’t have curbside recycling service,  call your garbage service and ask for recycling facility recommendations.

4.  If you have electronics to get rid of, find local recyclers here.

5.  If you have hazardous materials, make sure to dispose of them properly.  Hazardous materials include things like batteries, paint, CFL bulbs, propane tanks, pesticides or lawn chemicals, household chemicals (bleach, cleaning supplies) or motor oil.   Many communities have hazardous waste collection events or a facility specifically to take these items.  IKEA stores will take batteries and CFL bulbs inside their store.

Now, I’ve seen the garages in the neighborhood, I know I’m not the only one who needs to get rid of junk – take a load off (literally) today!