Mommy Goes Green

Call2Recycle has launched a nationwide campaign encouraging consumers to recycle batteries.  By October 1, they are hoping to divert 1 million pounds of batteries from going to landfills.

They accept rechargeable batteries from cordless electronic products like cell phones, baby monitors,  flashlights, remote control cars, laptops, cameras and cordless power tools.

All of the rechargeable batteries collected through the Call2Recycle program are recycled and used to create other types of materials, including new batteries, stainless steel products and more. None of the material broken down from the recycling of rechargeable batteries and cell phones makes its ways into the landfills.

There are over 30,000 recycling drop off bins in the U.S., you can find a local location here by entering you zip code or you can call 877.273.2925.

If you’re creative, enter their video contest to win prizes.  You can also follow the campaign on Facebook or Twitter.

The obvious way to get more life out of your shoes is to give them to someone else who will use them or donate to a local charity. But sometimes, shoes just aren’t in good enough condition to be worn again.  Like many things these days, don’t put them in the garbage – it takes 1000 years for shoes to decompose in a landfill.    Recycle them!  Here are a few options:

Nike Reuse A Shoe – Shoes are put through a process that uses a “slice-and-grind” technique, where each shoe is cut into three slices – rubber outsole, foam midsole and fiber upper. These slices are then fed through grinders and purified to be made into Nike Grind.  The Nike Grind material is then made into new products such as track or playground surfaces, outdoor tennis courts and some Nike products such as the outsole of the Nike Pegasus.  Only athletic shoes and LIVESTRONG wristbands are accepted at a drop off facility in countries all over the world or you can mail them in.  I live near a drop off facility and drop off our old shoes there.

Recycled Runners – This online shoe recycling directory will help you find a place to recycle athletic shoes at a drop off facility near you.

Okabashi Shoe Recycling – Okabashi will take back their own shoes, sandals and flip flops and recycle them into new shoes or other goods. When you send them in for recycling, make sure to include your email address and they’ll give you 15% off a new pair!

Unique Eco – A company in Kenya takes old flip flops and makes them into raw materials for local artisans to make unique hand made crafts to sell in local shops and craft fairs.  You have to mail them to Kenya but consider the postage a donation to a great cause.

Earth911 – This online recycling guide will tell you where to recycle anything – just type in ’shoes’ and your zip code and will find the nearest facilities.

The Elmer’s Glue Crew is another great way to teach children about recycling.  Last year, in all 50 states, 1.2 million students collected empty glue bottles and sticks for recycling.  Once washed, the containers can be taken to WalMart or mailed to the TerraCycle program.

Teachers – here are lesson plans and activities to integrate the Elmer’s Glue Crew into your classroom.

For other school recycling programs, check out:

• Green School Fundraising
• A New Use for CapriSun

Christmas is the time of year when everyone gets new electronics so make sure when you get one, you get rid of your old old devices – responsibly.

There are hundreds of different companies that will take your old electronics and recycle them but these organizations take it a step further by offering you something in return.  There’s nothing to lose.  You get to clear out unused stuff in your house and the electronics are recycled responsibly.

Gazelle pays you cash and they take just about type of electronic from digital cameras and laptops to camera equipment, projectors and gaming equipment.  Gazelle will send you a box and shipping is prepaid.

Recycling for Charities takes iPods, digital cameras, cell phones and PDAs.   You choose the charity that will benefit from your donation – there are hundreds and you can add your own.

Apple’s iPod recycling program allows you to bring your old iPod into a retail store and get 10% off a new one.

EcoNEW is an easy way to trade-in your used electronics in exchange for store credit or gift cards.  They take laptops, MP3 players, LCD TVs, LCD monitors, desktops, camcorders, gaming systems, PDAs and digital cameras.   Shipping is prepaid.

BestBuy Trade-in will take gently used electronics in the store and others by mail only.  In addition to the normal iPod, computer and cell phone recycling, they also take car and home audio equipment, GPS receivers and multimedia equipment.  In return, they’ll send you a Best Buy gift card or check (for lesser amount). Shipping is prepaid.

HP Trade-in is a great program for schools or businesses, particularly if you need to purchase new HP products.  The online tool will quote you the trade-in value of your products.  Once you purchase new HP products, you will receive cash back checks in the mail for the value of your trade-ins.  Shipping is prepaid.

Tips for Recycling:

1.  To get the reward, most of these companies expect the product to be in working condition.  Even if you have products that aren’t working – they will still accept them, but without a reward.  Bottom line – make sure to recycle any electronic device, in working condition or not.

2.  Check with the manufacturer of your device first – they may offer the best trade-in value.

3.  Make sure to clear off any data from your device before sending it in.  Many companies will delete the data but you’ll only feel good if you do it yourself first.

4.  Get all the accessories you have for the device – often the trade-in value is higher.

BONUS: Many of these companies will also work with your school or organization to set up fundraising opportunities by recycling electronics.  What school or non-profit couldn’t use some free money?

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, America’s trash rises by 25% – here are some ideas to make sure you are not a contributor!

1.  BYOB – bring your own bags when Christmas shopping.  Envirosax makes fantastic, stylish bags with plenty of room for your goods.  Decline a bag for every purchase you make and try to stuff it into a bag you are already carrying.

2.  Purchasing gifts -  most of your trash comes from the gift packaging so choose gifts with little to no packaging like gift cards, charity donations or memberships to the zoo, museum, or library. These are great gifts that last long beyond the holiday.

3. Wrapping gifts – wrap gifts in something the recipient can use again like canvas bags, a piece of fabric or cloth napkin with a pretty bow, or a decorative bag or box (reused from previous holidays!).  Kids are always creating art projects at school, use them for wrapping – grandparents will particularly love this!  For large gifts, just tie a bow around it. Ecorations also makes reusable fabric gift wraps and bags.  I love their personalized Santa sacks for kid’s presents!

4. Shipping gifts- if you are shipping gifts, have them sent directly from the store to the recipient.  No use in shipping first to yourself and then shipping again.  Also, reuse Styrofoam packing peanuts, air filled bags or plastic grocery bags to cushion the contents. 

5. Christmas cards and invitations – don’t feel obligated to send a Christmas card if you dread doing it every year.  Most of them end up in the recycle bin anyway.  Families do enjoy getting an update on their friends so try sending an email newsletter, a link to your family blog or an online card.  It’s free, saves you a lot of time and reduces your paper use.    For the Christmas cards you do get, donate them to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children once the holiday is over.  The organization recycles used cards ( for any occasion ) into new cards and sells them, benefiting the abused, abandoned and neglected children at the ranch.  Hosting a holiday party? Use a free online invitation program, like Evite, for customized online invitations.

6. Holiday parties- if you or your company have a holiday party, there is bound to be leftover food.  Call a local agency that will pick up the food and deliver to people who really need it or package it up and have your guests take it home.  Compost fruit and veggie scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds.   During the party, use reusable dishes, utensils and cloth napkins – you can rent them from a party rental company if you need more than you own. 

7.  Opening gifts- when opening gifts, make sure to have 3 bags on hand – one for recyclable packaging and wrapping, one for ribbons and bags that can be reused and one for true trash.  Remember that a lot of things are recyclable, even if it can’t be taken curbside.  It may be an extra trip, but you can take Styrofoam and hard plastic packaging to local facilities to be recycled.  Check Earth911 for a local location.

Ever wonder where the plastic products you recycle goes?  Preserve is one company that takes them to make new personal care, kitchen and tableware products.   All of their products are made in the U.S. from 100% recycled materials.  Better yet, they are all recyclable when you are done using them.

In face, if your community doesn’t recycle #5 plastics, Preserve will take them back to use in their recycling process.  You can drop them off at a local collection site or mail them to Preserve.

Preserve’s personal care product line includes toothbrushes, razors and flavored toothpicks.  Toothbrush handles are made from 100% recycled plastic, including Stonyfield farms yogurt cups and come in soft, medium and hard bristles for both adults and children.  Every three months, when you replace your toothbrush, you can mail the old toothbrush and case (postage paid) back to Preserve and they’ll recycle them into plastic lumber for park benches, decks and more.  They will also take back their razors and tongue cleaners for recycling.  How’s that for full circle?  Love it!

The Home Depot is hosting two recycling events this fall, one for power drills and one for Christmas lights.

Power Drill Exchange DETAILS:

• October 25 – November 18
• Bring in USED or BROKEN drills
• Get 15% OFF a new lithium-ion drill 
• Lithium-ion is a revolutionary technology in cordless tools offering more power and less weight. Lithium-ion chemistry is not harmful to the environment and it outperforms NiCad by as much as 50 percent, requiring less charging time and saving energy.

Christmas Light Exchange DETAILS:

• November 5 – 15
• Bring in USED or BROKEN Christmas lights
• Get $3 OFF LED string Christmas lights
• Limited to 5 strings of lights
• LED lights are shown to use 80 percent less electricity than standard mini lights and last up to 10 times longer. This holiday season, The Home Depot will carry traditional white and multicolored ENERGY STAR qualified LED lights that offer superior connectivity – allowing consumers to link up to 87 strands (or one-quarter mile) of lights off of one outlet without the scare of overloading the circuit.

The next time you clean out your book, media or software collection, consider sending the unwanted items to EcoEncore.  EcoEncore is a non-profit organization that takes your unwanted items and then resells them on Amazon.  Once items are sold, the revenue is used to help support 1 of 15 environmental organizations in the Puget Sound, Washington area.

Acceptable Items for Donation:

•CDs: any full retail version (not copies). No scratches, preferably with original liner notes.

•DVDs: any full retail version (not copies). No scratches, preferably in original case.

•Recent Software and Video Games: full retail versions on CD with a license, less than 2 years old.

•Books: all should be in excellent condition for resale. No ripped pages, excessive highlighting, warped or separated binding, mold/mildew/stains. Normal wear and tear is just fine; covers and pages may be worn at the edges. Best-selling categories include art, philosophy, spirituality / religion, any academic texts less than 5 years old, professional reference materials (i.e. medical, law, engineering, software development) and newer cookbooks. Uncommon titles tend to have the highest resale value!

You can mail all items, along with a donation form, to:

Eco Encore
Attn: Media Donations
900 1st Ave S, Suite #205-B
Seattle, WA 98134

If you live in the Seattle, Washington area, you can drop off the items at one of these locations.

We’ve all got an old stroller ( or 3 ) hanging out in our garage.  If it’s time to get rid of it, don’t put it in the garbage! You have two better choices:

1.  Sell or give it away on Craigslist or Freecycle – there is likely someone in your neighborhood that needs it and a little extra cash in the pocket couldn’t hurt either.

2.  Recycle it – BabyPlanet can take old strollers and recycle 100% of the parts towards new items.  All you have to do is mail it to them :

ECA Inc.

2710 S. 13th Street

Springfield, Illinois 62703

Toys ‘R’ Us is hosting the ‘Great Gear Trade-in Event‘ and is accepting used baby gear such as high chairs, strollers, car seats, cribs and play yards in exchange for 20% off new baby gear.  There is a list of participating brands so make sure to check first before taking them in and the event goes through Sept 20.