In this day and age it is tough to imagine people are really thinking about lowering their carbon footprint at all, right? We have modern technologies using so much energy, producing harmful gasses and other pollutants, and wasting other precious resources 24 hours a day. But, if you can get pass the corporate agenda and zoom into the lives of everyday citizens that is often times a very different story. The average family does donate, recycle, and try to implement ways to save resources and money any way they can. This article will explain how you can recycle five items you may not have known were recyclable!
Mattresses
Some bed retailers will recycle mattress parts such as the box and springs. The only way you can make sure a store will actually recycle the parts instead of shipping the entire mattress off to a landfill is to call around locally and personally ask each store.
You can also extend the lifetime of your mattress by getting a mattress topper, making it comfortable for many more years and reducing waste!
Holiday lights
Send your holiday lights to HolidayLEDs.com and in return they will give you 15% off anything in their online store.
Prescription medications
Find out if there is a medication recycling program before you donate ANY prescriptions pills anywhere. Redistributing unused medications can help save people lots of hard-earned and well-needed money, as well as save our water from contamination when they are alternatively flushed down the toilet or thrown into an ocean or sewer drain.
Bras
Women can recycle their bras to breast cancer-survivors by donating the ones they no longer like or that no longer fit to Bosom Buddy Recycling. What an amazing and unique way to give the gift of “support” to another woman in need!
Shoes
Nike will take and recycle any brand of rubber-soled shoes you have and turn them into all kinds of athletic surfaces such as running tracks, basketball courts and more!
So, if you have a growing mound of junk that has been sitting there since your kids were little, whether it be in your closet, in the basement, in your attic, or in your garage – get to sorting through it and donating your materials to places that can reuse them and give them life again. The whole purpose of recycling anyway is to reuse materials so that new ones do not need to be made, and in turn, use more factory operation hours that pollute our surroundings in so many different ways each day.