New Year Organization: Decluttering

Decluttering is always a popular topic around the beginning of the year, and as we move into spring cleaning season. In my Times of Acadiana column last week, I shared a few ways to donate or recycle items you don't need so that you don't just throw everything on the curb for the trash guys to pick up.

There are so many options that it can be overwhelming to send everything to its proper destination, but I'm aiming to make it easier for you with a list of common items and the places they can go, so you don't have to do the research. However, I won't be coming to your house to do your cleaning out, so you're on your own there.

From clothing to housewares to books to home renovation materials, there’s a place to donate and recycle just about anything in your home. Sort and group your items that can be reused so you can donate them to different organizations.

Clothing/Shoes/Accessories

Fairly new clothing (especially children’s and infant clothing), shoes and accessories can be brought to consignment shops, where you can make a small amount of money back. Some stores in the Acadiana area are Clothing Loft, Clothes Mentor, Plato's Closet, and Once Upon a Child.

Older clothing can be donated to organizations like Arc of Acadiana, The Extra Mile, Salvation Army or Goodwill.

There are also tons of online consignment shops, like ThredUp or Tradesy, although the process may take a bit longer than doing it locally.

Garage Sales

If you’ve got a large collection of a variety of items, consider holding a garage sale. You’ll get rid of a lot of stuff that can be reused, and you’ll make a little cash in the process. Garage sales can be kind of a pain in the butt to prepare for, from sorting through all your stuff, pricing everything, getting the word out, and then waking up before the sun on a Saturday, but the payoff is usually worth it.

Visit my blog post from last January that details how to host your own garage sale.

Online Exchanges

If a garage sale isn’t your thing, try selling items individually online through Facebook marketplace groups (my husband's site of choice!) or other exchange apps/websites like Ebay, Letgo, or Craigslist.

And if you exchange goods within Lafayette, take advantage of the new safe exchange location in the Lafayette Police Department parking lot, thanks to Councilwoman Liz Webb Hebert! The spaces are surrounded by cameras that capture images of the transaction, along with vehicle license plates. The goal of the safe exchange location is to make buyers and sellers feel more at ease while making sale transactions.

Household Items

Donate household items to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore. They accept furniture, appliances, working light fixtures, home decor, hardware, and even some construction material. They’ll also pick up larger items if you call and schedule a time with them. If you're remodeling at home, donate old fixtures still in working condition - including fans, sinks, cabinets, or lighting. (The ReStore is also a great place to purchase items!)

If you’re decluttering later in the year, donate your stuff to Hospice of Acadiana for their annual thrift sale. Check out my blog post from last fall on the annual thrift sale. Last year, they accepted:

• Baby and toy items 
• China/crystal/collectibles
• Christmas and Mardi Gras decor
• Garden/outdoor items
• Home decor
• Jewelry/boutique items
• Kitchen items
• Small appliances
• Linens
• Bath items
• Small furniture pieces
• Wall art

Random, Miscellaneous Items

Freecycle! Offer good items to friends, family or neighbors. You never know who may be in need of something, and on the flip side, you never know when they might have something you need.

A few months back, I cleaned out in my office's copy room, and realized just how many notepads we had stored up that no one used. I simply posted a photo on my Facebook profile asking if anyone needed some spares, and the stack was spoken for within a day! Although the paper is all recyclable, I didn't want to dispose of perfectly usable items, and I knew that there would be places who would gladly accept free notepads.
 

Books, CDs, DVDs

The Friends of the Lafayette Public Library is a nonprofit organization that manages donations and runs a semiannual book sale to raise funds for the Lafayette Public Library.

Located next to United Way of Acadiana on Pinhook, and equipped with a handy dropbox, the Friends take books, CDs and DVDs, but not encyclopedias, textbooks or magazines.

Textbooks

Last year, I researched where to recycle textbooks, because it can be difficult to find somewhere to send them. While I believe many college textbooks these days are digital, there's still a good chance you've got paper textbooks taking up space at home.

• Books for Africa
• Green Textbooks
• Better World Book
• Textbook Recycling
• Recycle Your Textbook

Household Cleaners, Paint, Pesticides, and Chemicals

Collect any household cleaners, pesticides, paint or chemicals for Lafayette’s semiannual Household Chemical Day. Typically held in spring and fall, the event is open to residents of Lafayette and unincorporate areas of the parish. The collected materials are recycled or properly disposed.

• Chemical cleaners
• Gasoline
• Herbicides
• Mercury thermometers
• Paint and paint products
• Paint thinner and stripper
• Pesticides
• Photographic chemicals
• Pool chemicals
• Stains
• Turpentine

 

Electronics

Bring your electronic waste to Household Chemical Day as well, or bring items (like old computer monitors, keyboards, cords, cell phones or phone chargers) to Best Buy or Office Depot.

Electronic items that are accepted at Household Chemical Day:

• Laptops
• Computer hardware
• Computer accessories
• Telephones and telephone systems
• Cell phones/bag phones
• Security systems
• DVD movies and video games
• MP3 and DVD players
• XBoxes, Playstations, Wii
• Digital cameras and DVRs
• Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)
• Circuit boards (any type)
• Networking equipment
• Fax machines
• Processors
• Telephone and computer cables
• Printers
• Toner and ink jet cartridges
• Stereos
• Portable GPS devices
• Flat screen monitors

Recycling information for these items (through medication) is courtesy of Lafayette Consolidated Government.

Televisions and computer monitors smaller than 32"

Best Buy
Office Depot (fees may apply)

Rechargeable Batteries

Best Buy takes lithium ion only
Batteries Plus

Automotive Batteries

Louisiana Scrap Metal
Most Automotive Stores (AutoZone, Firestone, Advance Auto Parts, Pep Boys)

Motor Oil or Antifreeze

Most automotive stores
Wal-Mart

Compressed Gas Cylinders

Ameri-Gas: 2317 N. University Ave.

Tires

Public Works South District Yard, 1017 Fortune Road (ph: 291-7072)
Colt Inc. Scrap Tire Center

Compact Fluorescent (CFL) Bulbs

Home Depot
Lowe's

Appliances

Louisiana Scrap Metal
Once a month curbside collection (check LCG's Bulky Waste map for your designated week)

Fire Extinguishers

Gulf Land Fire Safety Inc., Carencro, La.

Medication

Most local pharmacies (call ahead)

Mardi Gras Beads

Donate them to LARC or Arc of Acadiana. Both organizations repair and resell beads, providing employment and proceeds for people with developmental disabilities. This is one of my favorite things to do every year after Mardi Gras, so that beads can be reused and not trashed. (And if you're riding on a Mardi Gras float - purchase your beads from one of the two retailers!)

In Lafayette, if you're going to be at Le Festival de Mardi Gras at Cajun Field, drop your beads in the truck near the stage - all collected beads go to LARC for sorting, repairing and reselling.

Plastic Bags

As I wrote more about in last week's Photo Friday post, recycle your plastic bags at:

• Rouses Markets
• Robie's in Abbeville
• Target
• Albertson's

As always, be sure to check with any organization to confirm they can accept your donations or items for recycling - before you load up the car.

Is there an item you want to get rid of that isn't in the list above? Leave a comment here, or email me, and I'll do some research for you, and add it to the list!

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How Can I Reuse Medicine Dose Cups?

If you've got a medicine cabinet, chances are, you've got about a thousand of these little plastic medicine cups. They come with every liquid over the counter medicine you can buy, and they probably multiply when you aren't looking.

Trust me, these are not the only three currently sitting in my medicine bin.

So, instead of letting medicine cups collect and take up space, what can you do to responsibly dispose of them? 

First, cups with a recycling symbol on the bottom can be thrown into your recycling bin for collection. The ones without a symbol may be made of a plastic that cannot be recycled, and would have to be thrown away.

But there are different creative ways to reuse the cups around your house (that aren't completely ridiculous)!

• Organize tiny items, like beads for jewelry-making, separate pairs of earrings, or even a few push pins, screws or nails.
• Spray paint or decorate them to hold jewelry near the bathroom or kitchen sinks.
• Hold dip for snacks (like ranch with carrots).

The Simple Moms gives a few great suggestions, especially for households with children.

• Measuring cups in the kitchen. They're great for small quantities of liquids when you're cooking.
• Paint or glue cups. The small size makes it perfect to hold different colors of paint!
• Tea cups for dolls. Decorate them to make them perfectly dainty.
• Crayon molds. Perfect for reusing both medicine cups and worn-down or broken crayons. Visit The Simple Moms for the process.

Do you have any ideas for reusing medicine cups?

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New Year Organization | How to Host a Garage Sale

So you're cleaning out at home, and you're racking up a decent pile of stuff to get rid of. Donating is always a good option, but if you've got enough stuff, why not try to make a little extra money from it?

Image: Red Oak, TX

Coming from a garage-sale childhood, I can attest that they are both awesome and horrible at the same time. We held one every few years and it was always very successful, and we'd compete to see who sold the most stuff. At the same time, I have great memories of going garage-saling with my mother. We would plan our route when the weekly classified paper would come out, then load up in the truck and make our morning trip. We found so many treasures on those trips, from clothes to household goods to furniture, and I'm sure it had some impact on my future as your favorite crazy treehugging blogger.

Pros:

• Cleans out the house.
• Recycling your goods instead of throwing them out.
• Money in ya pocket!

Cons:

• WHY ARE THEY SO EARLY IN THE MORNING?
• The planning.

As a child and teenager, there's nothing worse than getting up at 5am on a Saturday. As an adult, I might be able to tolerate it a little more. The pros outweigh the cons here, especially when it comes to some $$$.

Now, I have been living with my fiance for almost two years now, and for those two years, we have talked about having our own garage sale. It's a common story for many couples: move in together, combine things from two separate apartments, and have a lot of duplicates.

And now, for what I'm kind of embarrassed to admit: we still haven't had that garage sale. We still have most of that extra stuff in storage. But this is the year. (Yes, wedding year, but that's not what I mean right now.) This is the year we have that garage sale. And you can thank my mother for prodding us along, basically by saying she and my dad were going to have their own. And we said, "That's a great idea! We'll bring our stuff over to sell!"

#Adulting: Mooching off your parents' garage sale because you haven't gotten around to having your own.

I Want to Have a Garage Sale. What Do I Do?

• Start collecting your items. Go through all closets: clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelry, purses, outerwear. Go through the kitchen and dining room. Go through your bathroom (hey, why not sell those hotel bottles of shampoo you took but never use?) Go through kids' toys. Go through your movie and CD collections. Go through the holiday decorations. Drink some wine while you do all this, because it's tedious.
• Pick a date and force yourself to stick to it. Give yourself enough time to collect all your items. Two months out is pretty ideal. One month is pretty rushed. Four or more months, and you'll probably talk yourself out of doing it. Consider holidays and typical weather for the time of year you're interested in.
• Begin pricing your items and keeping an inventory list. There are a few ways to price: Use blank labels from an office supply store and write your prices in, use preprinted price stickers, or just make signs to hang above your groups (All Tops $2, All Shoes $5, etc.) While this might seem like the easiest way, it can get a little hectic on the morning of your sale, when someone comes up with a massive pile of stuff and you have to remember what each price is, because it's not labeled. I prefer stickers so I can clearly see what I priced something.
• Find tables/racks for your goods. You'll need something to lay your items out on. If you use folding tables or your patio table, you may want to mark it "Not for Sale", because someone will probably try to buy them. If you're selling furniture, use it to hold smaller items. Rolling wardrobe racks are great for hanging clothes. If you can't find or borrow those, use some rope tied to anchors or between carport columns. Ask around to see who might have tables you can borrow.
• Start publicizing your sale. Your newspaper's classified section is still a great place to advertise your garage sale, because you'll be included with other sales, and people can plan out their itinerary. Plan to advertise about two weeks in advance, and the week of your sale. In today's age, it's common to share everything on Facebook, but by advertising your garage sale online, even just by sharing a status, you are sharing your address with the world. Don't sacrifice your privacy or safety!
• Get money to use for change. I asked my mom for guidance on this one, but she says she can never remember the best combination of bills to get. You'll want a few hundred dollars' worth of change to cover yourself. Stick with more smaller bills ($1, $5, $10) and just have a few larger bills ($20). Don't forget to note how much cash you're starting with, because you'll need to subtract it from your sale revenue to figure out your profit.
• Stock on up plastic shopping bags. It kills me to even say this, but when you're planning a garage sale, choose plastic bags at the store, so you'll have enough on hand to use for your shoppers. Or, just ask friends and family for their spare plastic bags. (If you're a garage sale shopper, bring your cloth bags!)
• Ask friends or family for assistance. You might need a few sales associates to work the floor. Offer them a portion of the profits or free lunch and beer.
• Get your items ready. If you have an enclosed garage, you can put all your items out on display the night before. If you have an open driveway, keep your items right inside the house for security, and just carry everything out the morning of.
• Go to bed early! 4:00 on a Saturday morning is early AF.

The morning of your garage sale, get up early, make some coffee, and maybe send someone to pick up donuts (garage sale-day Meche's donuts are the best Meche's donuts!) If you advertised your garage sale to start at 6 a.m., expect people to show up ridiculously early - like 5 a.m. You can turn them away, or let them have first pick. Most times it's flea market owners or antiquers looking for the best selection.

Your garage sale may get pretty busy, so just stay calm! Negotiate with shoppers and keep an eye on everything so that someone doesn't walk away with a 100% discount.

By around 11:00 or noon, shoppers will wind down and it's time for you to close up shop! Box up whatever's left and save it for a donation. Count up your profits and take a nap. You've just completed your own garage sale!

Have you held a garage sale before? How was your experience??

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How Do I: Get Rid of These Batteries?

The topic of recycling batteries may not necessarily be exciting, but it's certainly important! There are many ways to get rid of batteries responsibly, without having to add them to a landfill pile.

Why should you avoid throwing dead batteries in the trash? Electronics and electrical components contain heavy metals and toxic chemicals that can leak out, seep into the ground or water sources, and cause pollution and illness. Polluted water already causes enough problems - why would you want to add to the issues?

So, how to recycle batteries.

Your local Best Buy accepts old rechargeable batteries in their kiosks at the front of the store. In Louisiana specifically, you can drop off rechargeable batteries, laptop batteries, battery backups and cell phone batteries. They do not accept single-use batteries, rechargeable batteries more than 11 pounds, car batteries and lithium ion batteries. Check Best Buy's recycling page for information on your own state.

RecycleNation provides a directory guiding you where to recycle many different products, including single-use and lithium ion batteries. A quick search for single-use battery recycling near my zip code tells me that Radio Shack accepts them. A word of advice: Call the place where you want to go and confirm they do accept the items for recycling, BEFORE you drive out there. (Save you some gas!)

The Louisiana DEQ website breaks down e-cycling dropoff locations by city, and their definition of electronics covers rechargeable batteries.

Call2Recycle is a rechargeable battery and cell phone collection program that has collection sites all over the country. A search around Lafayette tells me there are collection sites at Home Depot, Lowes, Sears and Office Depot.

Some household e-waste and chemical collection days in cities will accept single-use batteries; just check with your city before your bring your stash.

Battery Solutions is a company that recycles a wide assortment of battery types, and they have instructions on how you can recycle with them.

Energizer has a new EcoAdvanced battery that contains 4% recycled batteries. Their claim is that the eco batteries require less mining of virgin material and reduce the amount of batteries consumers need to power their devices resulting in less waste.

 

Image: Energizer

Rethink Recycling and Duracell both maintain that it's safe to throw away single-use batteries manufactured after 1993, when the Lead Battery Recycling Incentives Act amended the Solid Waste Disposal Act. As Duracell says, they discontinued the use of mercury as well in 1993. However, it's better to err on the safe side, and dispose of batteries without dumping them in a landfill. California even requires that batteries be recycled.

Larger or specialty batteries may require separate treatment. Auto batteries should be recycled by the store that changes it for you; if you change your own battery, contact an auto parts store to see if they can recycle it for you.

Looking into how to recycle old cell phones and their batteries? Check out this Eco Cajun blog post!

Read up on general electronics recycling in another blog post.

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Help, I Need to Get Rid of These Electrical Cords!

Once upon a time, there was a striped cat named Milo. Adopted at eight weeks by a gullible sucker named Caitlin, Milo quickly became spoiled and decided everything he could see in the room was a toy to play with.

It was cute at first, but quickly became extremely annoying, and two and a half years later, Caitlin found herself with a pile of chewed phone chargers and AC adapters (and one fiance's laptop charger).

Hiding her one remaining phone charger, she researched how to properly dispose of her electrical cords so they didn't have to go in the trash. "Milo may be destructive and wasteful, but he is not going to keep me from being eco-friendly. AT LEAST I can use one of our spare AC adapters for my essential oil diffuser and save money," she thought.

(I am so glad I can write a short non-fiction piece on cats chewing through wires. Literary, I say.)

Maybe (hopefully) you are not in the same predicament. However, chances are, you've got a box full of spare cords and cables taking up room somewhere in your house. Not very minimalist! I wrote a post a couple years ago about electronics waste and why it's so important not to contribute to electronics pollution. So, how do you get rid of them the responsible way?

Do your cords and cables still work? 

• Donate them! Goodwill accepts electronics donations, or you can ask around at schools, libraries or other nonprofit organizations to see if they can accept the items.
• Sell them! Whether in a Facebook "For Sale In Your Town" group, at a garage sale, or on another website, you could make a little extra cash and help out someone who needs an extra cable.

If they've shorted out, don't work, or are frayed/chewed...

Look to your recycling options. 

• Your local Best Buy has kiosks, just inside the front doors, to drop off ink and toner cartridges, rechargeable batteries, and wires, cords and cables, plastic bags and gift cards. Simply drop off your crap and go about your day.
• If your city has an electronic waste recycling center, drop off your cords there.
• The Louisiana DEQ has a list (albeit a two-year-old list) of electronics recyclers throughout the state. If nothing, this can serve as a starting point if you are looking around.
• AllGreen offers electronic recycling pickup throughout the state.
• This Apartment Therapy list provides available online recycling options.

Nice try, Sour Patch Kid. (He's sour and then he's sweet. Heh. Hehehe.)

Now, Milo, can you earn your keep and take this bag of cords you destroyed over to the local Best Buy for me?

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how do i recycle old tennis shoes?

Eco Cajun friend Skyra recently asked, "Any ideas on sustainable ways to reuse or recycle old shoes that are too worn for donation? The only company I know that does it is Nike, but are are there other ways to reuse old shoes?"

Great question, Skyra! I'm happy to do some research and find some options for you.

Depending on the brand, your favorite running shoes are mostly made up of natural and synthetic rubbers and synthetic foam, which is primarily composed of polyurethane and ethylene vinyl acetate. The upper portion is usually mesh or natural or synthetic leather. Both rubber and polyurethane can be reclaimed and reused, and manufacturing with reclaimed rubbers and foams is often more energy-efficient and much less expensive than using virgin material.

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how do i recycle cooking oil?

Reader Joy asked, "Any suggestions for recalling cooking oil? I have been calling around Lafayette for the past year and no one can tell me how to dispose of it and I have like 3 gallons of it in my storage because I don’t know what to do with it."

First things first, why should you never pour grease and cooking oil down your sink drain? If you've seen grease and cooking oil a couple days later, you know that gross gel-ish solid form it turns into. You don't want that in your drains, and the sewer system doesn't need that.

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lafayette recycling 101

I was speaking with my friend Liz recently, and she asked me for some pointers about setting up curbside recycling for and her husband's and her home in the city of Lafayette. Her biggest issue was that she wasn't sure just where to start. She also felt the Lafayette recycling website was unclear about costs and pickup.

It got me thinking, what if you've just moved to town? What if you've never had a recycling bin before? How do you go about getting started? It's easy to talk about ways to go green, but sometimes I really just need to step back and start at the beginning!

"I want to help with the recycling process because I care about the environment and how we leave it for future generations," Liz said.

If you're in the same situation as Liz, needing to establish curbside recycling, or you're in another city but still have questions on where to start, sit down and take notes on Recycling 101, Eco Cajun style!

STEP 1

Who in Lafayette is eligible for curbside recycling? Residents in the city of Lafayette, as well in the cities of Carencro and Youngsville, who live in a house, a duplex or triplex, and have the Total Environmental Charge on their Lafayette Utilities System (LUS) monthly bill. The recycling fee is $2.37 per month.

STEP 2

Eligible? Call the Recycling Foundation at 337-234-0066 to get a recycling cart delivered to your home. Lafayette uses a 64-gallon SmartCart system now, eliminating the need for you to sort your recyclables into paper, plastic, aluminum and glass. Just throw it all into one bin! Liz says, "I am sure that between just my husband and myself that we would use a full trash can of recyclables." My boyfriend and I fill up our recycling bin between pickup most of the time, but sometimes we don't have enough in the bin to put it out every week.

STEP 3

Now that you have your bin, make sure you know what's acceptable in the bin. Currently, the city of Lafayette has the following recycling rules (your city may differ, so check first).

YAY

• Plastic containers numbered 1-7 inside the recycling symbol. Rinse all plastics, and remove tops and lids. (Example: food and drink containers, bleach and detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, soft drink and water bottles)
• Newspaper and magazines (but tear your name and address off first!)
• Catalogs, phone books
• Mixed paper
• Cereal and soft drink boxes
• Cardboard (flatten any box!)
• Shredded paper (this is only recyclable item that should be bagged)
• Aluminum cans (rinse cans first!)
• Steel/tin cans
• Aluminum foil and pie pans (make sure it is clean and free of food debris) 
• Glass food and beverage bottles and jars, all colors. Rinse them first and throw away the lids. (Examples: beer bottles, wine bottles [UM HELLO, LIKE ALL OF MY RECYCLING], pickles jars, jelly jars, baby food jars)

NAY

• No plastic bags (even if they have the recycling symbol), no styrofoam, plastic packaging or saran wrap, six-pack rings or petroleum product bottles (motor oil, brake fluid, etc.)  
• No plastic newspaper delivery bag
• No wet or soiled paper
• No pizza or burger boxes
• No photos or carbon paper
• No take-out food containers (which are most commonly styrofoam anyway - see bullet 1!)
• No hardcover books (take 'em to the library!)
• No lids from aluminum cans (you just gon' have to throw them away!)
• No light bulbs
• No drinking glasses
• No window panes
• No ceramics

Follow dem rules! It's important to keep the recycling stream free of contaminated or unacceptable materials.

The easiest way to keep your recyclable items together is to have a dedicated bin in your house, next to your trashcan. That way, you have the same amount of work to throw away as you do to recycle.

Lid: trash, Jar (rinsed!): recycling 

Household chemicals, paint and other hazardous materials are picked up once or twice a year (usually April and October) at Cajun Field. In the meantime, collect your materials for pickup and DON'T dump them in the ditch.

 

STEP 4

Now that your bin is full, when are you supposed to put it out for collection? It depends on where you live! Lafayette Consolidated Government has a GIS map that allows you to enter your address, and it will inform you which day is collection. Be sure to give it a minute to load!

STEP 5

The last step is to put your bin out the night before your pickup day! Then you can sit back and be satisfied that you're successfully reducing the amount of trash in your household.

The Lafayette Consolidated Government Environmental Quality Division Recycling Section oversees the curbside recycling contract with the Recycling Foundation. If you have problems with your recycling service or if you have recycling questions, please call the Recycling Foundation at 234-0066 or the Environmental Quality Division at 291-8529.

Do you have questions on recycling or other sustainable practices? Email or Facebook 'em to me and I may feature you in a future How Do I post!

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how do i recycle my old cell phones?

Giant Nokia with multitude of teenage girl-style faceplates (let's see, flowers, Hello Kitty and shimmery hot pink come to mind right away).
Smaller Motorola with customizable polyphonic ringtones.
Two Samsung sliders.
Blackberry Torch, bless its heart.

In 11 years, I've managed to rack up a collection of old cell phones. And I am far from the only one. 


According to Volunteer Guide, more than 500 million unwanted cell phones are either awaiting disposal in the home, or seeping hazardous lead, mercury, cadmium, brominated flame retardants and arsenic into the environment. 

And because of planned obsolescence, a cell phone's average life is now less than 18 months, adding more than 140 million cell phones (and their batteries) to landfills each year.

Photo: 1-800 Recycling

So how do we go about recycling those cell phones so they don't sit in landfills and contribute to pollution? First erase any stored information. Most cell phones use a master reset to delete information quickly and easily. Then remove your phone’s SIM card if you can.

• Drop off your unwanted cell phones in physical bins in wireless provider and electronics stores.
• Best Buy has bins near their entrances that accept cell phones, chargers and hands-free headsets.
• Verizon Wireless accepts cell phones in their stores and puts them in the Hopeline program. The program then cleans and refurbishes the phones, and then donates the proceeds to domestic violence organizations.
• ATT Wireless has drop-off bins in their retail locations.
• LG's recycling program has a drop-off site search tool, but the sites can be scarce in your area. For example, there was no site within 50 miles of me.
• Samsung has a recycling program as well.
• Mail off your unwanted cell phone.
• Donate the phone to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
• Operation Gratitude collects cell phones and recycles them in order to raise funds to send overseas troops care packages.
• Cell Phones for Soldiers is a similar program, but they accept used phones and use the money to send troops calling cards and other communication tools. They also accept cell batteries and accessories.
• OEM Take Back accepts old Samsung products.
• Earth911 has a comprehensive list of mail-in programs.
• The EPA also has a list of different vendors for recycling.

And what about cell phone batteries? Most places that accept used cell phones should accept their batteries as well. Call2Recycle accepts batteries, and explains how they are recycled in a nifty little flowchart. They also have a very comprehensive list of locations where you can drop off rechargeable batteries and cell phones. There are 18 locations in my immediate area, one of which is my local Best Buy.

What better way to kick off Earth Month than to round up all the old cell phones lying around your house and recycling them, or better yet, donating them?

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