It’s looks and feels like Spring (at least in most places). It’s the month of April. That means Earth Day is near. And Earth Day means it’s time to recycle. 
Today there are many places where you can recycle all kinds of items year round. However, during many of the local Earth Day events you get a chance to recycle many different items in one location.
Because of this opportunity to make one drop off why not take advantage of it. You know you shouldn’t throw these items in the trash so you probably hold on to them until you can find the time and place to recycle them.
Your home is not a landfill. Nor should it be a holding area indefinitely for recyclable items. So search the internet for your local Earth Day events to find out where, when, and what you can get out to recycling now!
Here is a list of the kinds of items my local event is taking.
1. Paper Shredding: They have a limit of 5 boxes. When we sold my mother’s house last fall (she’s in a nursing home now) I had to bring all the boxes of papers she had saved to my house. Some of the financial papers dated back to 1985. My city has a recycling event in the fall and at Earth Day each year. It felt great to go through all the boxes (10) and reduce them down to two. I took 5 boxes to be shredded in the fall event. All non-sensitive paper got recycled at curbside. Now I’m going to work on my own papers.
2. Electronics, TV’s, Computers, and small appliances
3. Used clothing, linens, & paired shoes. I’m currently doing a closet declutter. See my Facebook Page for more info. As I go through my clothes and shoes I will put some of them aside for this recycling drive.
4. CFL light bulbs & tool pack batteries. Home Depot will have a booth to collect these.
5. Buttons, beads, board games, and children’s books. St. Louis has a Teacher’s Recycle Center that collects these types of items. I have a box of buttons from my mother’s house and another small box from a great Aunt that has been gone for many years. I’m the sewer in the family but have rarely used any of these buttons. Time to pass them on so they can be used by some creative children.
6. Prescription and OTC medications: This is a great time to get all those unused or expired medications out of the house and safely recycled. I was able to do this last fall after cleaning out my mother’s house.
So go ahead right now and find out if you have a local Earth Day recycling event. Then print or write out a list of what they take. Go through one room at a time to see how much you can get out of your house and recycle.
- Your house will be less cluttered.
- You’ll feel good about recycling these items. No guilt.
It’s a win-win project.
To a lighter load along the way,
Janice