A Holiday for Getting Rid of Stuff
Here's a holiday you probably don't have marked on your calendar: America Recycles Day on Nov. 15.
It's worth noting. You don't have to spend any money. And rather than winding up with a necktie or slippers that you don't want, you might find a way to get rid of stuff you
really
don't want.
National retail chains and local municipalities often have special recycling events on and leading up to ARD, so it's a good opportunity to responsibly dispose of miscellaneous items you've had lying around the house that you aren't sure how to get rid of.
The National Recycling Coalition promotes
America Recycles Day
on its Web site. It provides links where you can learn about ARD events around the country, but the information is provided by local recycling organizations and is a little uneven.
Beyond that, here are a few seasonal and perennial ways to get rid of items that could stand to be recycled more often than they are:
Telephones
I wrote over the summer about how tricky it is to
. Programs that take all sorts of other electronics tend to overlook phones.
But from now until Nov. 15, you can take your
to any
Staples
(SPLS)
for recycling, in addition to the computer equipment, ink cartridges and cell phones that you can bring to the
for recycling any time.
Rechargeable Batteries
This is easy.
Radio Shack
(RSH)
,
Office Max
(OMX)
,
Circuit City
(CC) - Get Report
,
Best Buy
(BBY) - Get Report
and
Rite-Aid
(RAD) - Get Report
all take them, as do many cell-phone stores.
The
Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp.
can give you a list of stores near you that take batteries from cameras, cell phones, laptops, PDAs and even handheld power tools.
Disposable Batteries
This was a tougher challenge. According to Earth 911, some Radio Shacks, Best Buys and
Whole Foods
(WF) - Get Report
take them, but the stores' Web sites suggested otherwise. It might be worth inquiring at your local outlet if for no other reason than to put the idea in their heads.
Battery Solutions
is a private company that recycles batteries and small electronics. For $24 the company will send a postage-paid, addressed box that you can fill with items you want recycled and mail it back for proper disposal.
Otherwise, the best you can do is stay on the lookout for local recycling events where batteries are accepted and consider switching as soon as possible to rechargeables, which have other advantages that I
last week.
Ink Cartridges
On the
Hewlett Packard
(HP) - Get Report
Web site, you can order postage-paid boxes or envelopes for returning cartridges to the company.
Staples will automatically send you a new printer cartridge every time you mail back an old one for recycling through its Inkdrop program. The service is free, but you, of course, have to pay for new cartridges.
In exchange for ink cartridges,
Office Depot
(ODP) - Get Report
gives $3 coupons that you can put toward replacements.
Compact Florescent Bulbs
Mercury makes these bulbs tricky to throw away, and most curbside recycling programs don't take them yet.
But Ikea says it has bins located in all of its U.S. stores for collecting dead CFLs. You can bring CFLs to the returns desk at
Home Depot
(HD) - Get Report
.
Miscellaneous Doodads
If you have other hard-to-recycle items around the house, such as televisions, paint, toys, tires, lawn products or computer peripherals like printers, check out
, which has a search function that lets you find local recycling resources all over the country.
Eileen P. Gunn writes about the business of life and is the author of "Your Career Is An Extreme Sport." You can learn more about her at
her Web site.
