The Inconvenient Truth About Breast Pumps

Breast pumps typically rank high among the big-ticket items on new moms' shopping lists. They might spend $300 and use them for less than a year. And then what?

Companies have figured out ways to recycle car batteries, carpets and even diapers, which had been clogging landfills for decades. Why not breast pumps? Options are scarce for green-minded parents, but more may be coming.

One of the biggest breast-pump makers, Medela, launched a pilot program last fall that allows parents to bring used breast pumps to 22 retailers for credit toward a new one. Rival Avent, a unit of the Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics(PHG Quote), lacks a breast pump program now, but plans to let customers return end-of-life products later this year to be recycled. ...