Kitchen recycling tip: Earth911
There are many things in the kitchen besides plastic milk jugs that can be recycled. You just need to know where to take them.
Tue, Jan 06 2009 at 1:17 PM EST
It’s becoming common for communities to have easy access to recycling programs for things like milk jugs and soup cans. But there are still many things in your kitchen that can be recycled but aren’t easy to recycle simply because you don’t know where to take them.
There is a fabulous website that can help you with that. It’s Earth911.com. At the top of the page, there are two boxes. In the first box, you can type in the item you are looking to recycle. In the second box, you can type in your zip code. Earth911 will then point you to the nearest facilities that accept the item for recycling.
I thought I’d test it out on some items in my kitchen that either need to be recycled or may need to be recycled in the future:
- the drawer full of used single use batteries that I don’t want to throw in the trash
- my plastic trash can
- the household cleaners that are under my kitchen sink that I don’t use anymore because I’ve replaced them with more environmentally friendly ones
- kitchen electronics like the microwave, coffee maker or under the cabinet radio/cd player
- the telephone
For each of these things Earth911 pointed me to a place to take them to be recycled, some closer than others. The one item that it had no information for was the fire extinguisher.
Because of a little fire mishap in our outdoor recycling bucket last Easter, I happen to know what to do with a used fire extinguisher. I called my local department of public works and it turned out that they would pick it up curbside.
In fact, if Earth911 can’t point you to a nearby place to recycle whatever item it is you want to recycle, kitchen or otherwise, call your local department of public works. If they don’t have a recycling program for your item, they may be able to point you in the right direction.
Image credit: moria
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