I'm a low-waste / sustainable / eco-friendly / minimalist and I wanted to share resources to help those who might be interested in turning their 'trash' into another person's treasure
Here is a guide on you can do with items instead of throwing them in trash.
| Item | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Batteries | Drop off at local recycling places such as Home Depot, etc. |
| Books, holiday lights, bikes, etc | Scarce - in person drop off only in US (Illinois) |
| Bread tags | Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs - collects plastic bread tags nationally in Australia. The tags are recycled locally, raising funds to buy wheelchairs for disadvantaged people, mainly in South Africa. |
| Clothes you no longer need | Donate to local women shelters or your local Buy Nothing group. You can also use as rags for cleaning. If all else fails, try For Days take back bag |
| Crayons | Donate to The Crayon Initiative |
| New and gently used appliances, sinks, lumber, furniture, building materials, household goods and more from individuals and companies | Donate to Habitat for Humanity ReStores Each ReStore is unique, and many locations also accept items outside these categories |
| Markers and highligthers | For markers and highlighters that are at the end of their life cycle, Crayola’s ColorCycle program for schools will accept all brands of plastic markers to be recycled and converted into clean-burning fuel |
| Hair | Donate your hair to a program like Locks of Love or Wigs for Kids. Natural, untreated hair is also compostable so you can also ask your salon to bag it for you and compost it instead of letting it go to landfill if you cant donate it |
| Hair, fur, fleece | Donate to a program like Matter of Trust which uses it to clean up oil spills |
| Laptops | Donate to Computers for Causes |
| Lipbalm containers | Portland Bee Balm only accepts their own lip balm containers |
| Miscellanous items | Post on your local Buy Nothing Facebook group |
| Mascara wands | Clean and donate to Wands for Wildlife |
| Towels | Donate to local animal shelters |
| Shoes | Donate to Soles4Souls |
| Socks | Donate to SmartWool's SecondCut program to upcycle them info new socks |
| Stockings | You can try to upcycle them into hair ties |
| Underwear | Donate to Knickey's recycling program - they also take socks, bras, and tights; Parade's take back program also recycles them |
| Wedding flowers or other flowers | Get them pressed into a frame from a business like Pressed Floral - this is just an example, there's plenty of ways to preserve them or you could also compost them of course |
| Pick Up Please | PickUp Please |