What To Do With Your Trash

Things you can recycle if you’re willing to do a little extra…

Brush your Teeth with Brita Filters?

Brita has teamed up with Preserve, a leading maker of 100 percent recycled household consumer goods, to collect and recycle Brita pitcher filters. Preserve’s Gimme 5 Program will transform the plastic from these filters into new Preserve products.

How to Participate:

  1. Dry the filter by shaking off excess water and setting it in a dry place for at least three days.
  2. Wrap the filter in a plastic grocery bag, and then pack it in a box. (Boxes and bags will be recycled.) If possible, please send multiple filters at a time.
  3. Mail filters via ground shipping to:

    Brita Canada Corporation
    PO Box 140 STN LCD Malton
    Mississauga, ON L4T 9Z9
    *Packages must be sent by prepaid postage. No postage collect will be accepted.

Preserve will recycle the Brita plastic pitcher filter casings into their eco-friendly, 100 percent recycled products such as toothbrushes, cups and cutting boards.

All Preserve plastic products are also recyclable, giving Brita filter materials a third life. The filter ingredients – activated carbon and ion exchange resin – will be regenerated for alternative use or converted into energy. A lifecycle assessment developed by Preserve determined that the benefits of keeping Brita filters out of landfills and making them into Preserve products outweigh the impact of shipping them for recycling.

See also Preserve Products’ website.

(Source: Feb. 2010 WasteWatch)

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For your zen moment…Recycling Yoga Mats

Well, you recycle everything else. As soon as you get untangled (if you get untangled), you can now even recycle that yoga mat you bought (by mistake, clearly). Just go to www.recycleyourmat.com and follow the directions (also below) for shipping, and your mat will either be reused if it’s in good condition (for those less fortunate?!?!), or recycled. You’ll even get a coupon for 20% off your next order at Manduka.com, where you can buy – wait for it! – more yoga stuff!

  1. Clean it – See FAQ page for cleaning tips.
  2. Package it – Any packaging will be reused or recycled.
  3. Ship it – Send via United States Postal Service parcel post (usually the cheapest way), to the address below.

    Shipping Address:
    Recycle Your Mat
    1855 W 2nd Avenue
    Eugene, OR 97402

  4. Once received, we’ll email you a coupon for 20% off your next order of Manduka gear at Manduka.com

(Source: Feb. 2010 WasteWatch)

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National Crayon Recycle Program

If you, like many parents (or restaurants, or daycares, or…) have boxes of crayon bits that you’d like to get rid of, check out Crazy Crayons and the National (American, that is) Crayon Recycle Program. They take old crayons, and turn them into new ones, which you can also order from the website. The program hires folks with disabilities as a way to support the community.

You can ship them with the labels on (they prefer them that way, but if they’re already stripped, that’s OK), and unsorted, to:

Crayon Recycle Program
721 Village Road
Pelican Lake, Wisconsin 54463 USA

Or, if you happen to be down Florida way:

Crayon Recycle Program
14180 SW 30th Street Road
Ocala FL 34481

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Recycling Old Reusable Shopping Bags – a partnership between Grateful Thread & ChicoBags

Grateful Thread

The ChicoBag Company has partnered with The Grateful Thread to recycle any reusable bag that is no longer functional. The expired bags are transformed into beautiful woven rugs.

In the mid 19th century, women of the coal mining towns of Northeastern Pennsylvania would weave and sew to help support their families. Today, women at The Grateful Thread weave and sew to support victims of domestic violence. The Grateful Thread also supports the environment by offering many products made from 100% recycled materials. Donated fabrics and other materials are woven, knit and crocheted into colorful textiles which are then incorporated into everyday products such as totes, handbags, aprons, placemats, rugs, and more. See gratefulthread.org.

(Source: August 2009 WasteWatch)

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ChicoBag’s Zero-Waste Program

ChicoBag has an active repurposing and recycling program for all brands and types of reusable bags. It doesn’t want ANY reusable bag to be left in a dark closet or sent to a landfill. Send them all of your tired masses of reusable bags, functional or not. They will distribute them to fixed- and low- income families ready to start a reusable bag habit, or recycle them into new useful products. Visit www.chicobag.com.

Send your reusable bags to:
ChicoBag Company
C/O Zero Waste Program
349 Huss Drive
Chico, CA 95928

(Source: August 2009 WasteWatch)

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The Bra Recyclers – The new shape of recycling

The Bra Recycers are a textile recycling company specializing in recycling used and unused bras. A portion of the bras collected is donated to deserving women in communities around the world. They are doing their part to impact the environment by delaying the amount of unused bras/textiles that goes to our landfills, thus reducing the pressure on virgin resources. There are some drop-off locations available in the US. The rest of us can “show our support” by mailing used and unused bras (please leave the tags on new bras) to:

3317 S. Higley Rd.
Ste 114-441
Gilbert, AZ USA 85297

There is an on-line form that can be filled out or printed out for sending along with your bra(s). See their website at brarecycling.com

(taken from “Keener’s Korner” at the Saskatoon Waste Reduction Council)

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