Where Do I Recycle THIS?

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by Margie Suozzo

Summer is over and the kids are back in school. Time to purge!

I recently received an email from a friend in Los Altos who had done a bit of an “excavation” in her house. The kids were back in school and she had time to clear out rooms and closets of stuff they no longer wanted/needed. But she wanted to make sure that as little as possible of that stuff went to the landfill. THANK YOU! Together we made a plan for where to recycle her miscellaneous items:

Old Shoes

Source: torange.biz

A Runner’s Mind in Los Altos has a bin at the back of the store, inside the door, for old shoes and other sporting equipment. How convenient!

Old Blue Jeans

DesignX accepts some denim and other fabrics in good condition. The company, which emphasizes sustainability, uses the material for its after school and summer session “upcycling” classes for kids. DesignX was founded by a local Los Altos mom who hails from the fashion industry. You can contact DesignX here.

Old Sheets

GreenTown Los Altos’ Waste Reduction Team uses old sheets and other cotton fabric to make produce bags to replace plastic produce bags.

Cell Phones

Source: flickr.com

Target collects recyclables at the front of their store. One bin is for old cell phones and ink jet cartridges. Make sure to remove the SIM card and factory reset so your data doesn’t go with your phone.

Mailer Pouches

Some can be recycled at store drop off locations. In particular the white and blue packages from Amazon. Find the closest store drop-off location here. You can also drop off clean and dry plastic bread bags, cereal inserts, ziplock bags, etc. at these locations.

Egg Cartons and Berry Baskets

If you find you have been stockpiling old egg cartons and berry baskets because you just can’t throw them out, we have good news. Several farmers at the Los Altos and Mountain View farmers market take used egg cartons and virtually all of the berry farmers accept plastic berry baskets for reuse. Many berry farmers are also switching to fully biodegradable cardboard boxes, too. Woo hoo.

The GreenTown Waste Reduction team is happy to help identify how you can reduce the environmental impact of “KonMari-ing” your home. In addition, here are a few good resources you may want to consult:

• City of Sunnyvale’s “How to Get Rid of Anything” website. A great source of info on where to recycle things locally. Some of the drop off locations, such as the SMARTStation, however, are not applicable to Los Altos and Los Altos Hills residents.
• Hope Services (collects good condition clothing, housewares, and electronics, etc. to benefit local developmentally disabled adults)
• Local recycling companies
  • GreenWaste What Goes Where? Blue Cart(Los Altos Hills)
  • Mission Trail Waste Systems residential service guide (Los Altos residents)
• Earth911.org. Sometimes helpful. Here you can search by material for places that recycle that material within your zipcode or nearby.

Let us know if our Waste Reduction team can help you figure out where to recycle ANYTHING!

For more information, visit our website here.