Re-cycling Re-sources

For those of you that requested this, and those of you that didn't...I am giving you some easy recycling resources. Are you like me and you know you saw a site once that told you how to dispose of your old cell phone or rechargeable batteries, but you can't remember what it was? Here is a list of sites that give you the how and where on recycling those items that don't go in your recycling bin every week. If you don't know what goes in your bin, go to your local town website, (mine is http://www.norwalkct.org/) and there should be a recycling guide on there somewhere that pertains to your particular town.

The following is a list of websites that will easily help you to recycle.

-Recycled batteries and old cell phones: http://www.call2recycle.org/ just plug in your zip code and off you go! My zip code came up with 3,232. stores or locations to drop them off, many within a couple minutes from my house, now there are no excuses!

-Phone books, who uses those anymore!? If you want to stop receiving phone books call:
* ATT/ Yellow Pages: 1-800-479-2977*

Verizon: 800-555-4833, press 4, then 5, then 2*

DEX: 1-877-243-8339, press 2*

Yellow Book: 1-800-929-3556, press 2

Or, go to http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/

You can also sign a petition at http://paperlesspetition.org/

-A great site that is your guide to recycling practically everything is http://www.earth911.com/. There, you can simply put what it is that you want to recycle and your zip code and viola!

I just typed in mercury thermostat (we replaced our old thermostat for a new digital energy saving one) and found out that I have to drop it off at my counties hazardous waste day, which are held a few times a year and luckily one is coming up in October.

-If you have energy efficient cfl bulbs, which do contain mercury so they cannot go in the regular trash, I just saw a recycling bin for those at my local Home Depot, but you can also use http://www.earth911.com/ to find a drop off for those too.

-If you still aren't using cloth bags at the grocery store (shame, shame) you can go to www.plasticbagrecycling.org to find a dropoff location for your extra bags. Most major grocery stores will have drop off bins at the entrance to the store as well.

If you have items that are still usable try putting them on http://www.craigslist.org/ to make a few dollars or a great website that you can join is http://www.freecycle.org/, where neighbors can give away or pick up unwanted items for free! You will find anything and everything on there! Your local consignment shops, clothing bins, Goodwill, or Salvation Army are also great spots for old clothes, shoes, and household items, depending on the location.

Don't just say "oh well" and toss it in the trash. It is not a magical bin that makes everything just disapear. Those things are going to sit in our landfills and waterways for hundreds, thousands, or millions of years and some of them leach chemicals into our ecosystem at the same time. And please, if you are going to drink out of plastic water and soda bottles, at least throw them in the recycle bin and not the trash when you are done. Most statistics say that only 23% of water bottles are being recycled, which means 77% or rest are ending up in our landfills and oceans. Since we are consuming about 70 million bottles a day, that is a lot of unnecessary waste! I love my sigg reusable water bottle, which you can find at www.mysigg.com. It only takes a few extra minutes of time to find out where things can be recycled. There is very little that needs to end up in the landfill if you take a little extra time. For some staggering fun, or not so fun facts on waste and recycling go to http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html

-If you would like to donate to any environmental causes or just read up on them, here are some of my favorite organizations:
www.nrdc.org
www.worldwildlife.org
www.sierraclub.org
www.nature.org

Take Care, Stay Green

The Greenwitch

Feel free to contact me if you ever have any recycling questions or help in finding eco-friendly products for you or your family, I will be more than happy to assist you! You can respond here or reach me by email at sarah@organizedbysarah.com