20+ Decluttered Items Not To Be Trashed--and the Alternative...
Decluttering your spaces is a whale of a decision-making "fiesta".
- keep them,
- give them away,
- sell them, or
- trash them.
And trashing them can often be quite a puzzle and cause some real angst. Fortunately, there are some great options for many of these items, and I'm giving a big shout out to AARP for a recent article they published about this topic (they publish some really great material on downsizing, pertinent to the decluttering process whether you're moving households or not!). The November 2022 AARP bulletin included"How Do I Get Rid of This? A handy guide for disposing of those items that shouldn't go in the trash". Sadly, it is not available on their Bulletin website, but it is a very helpful treatment of this topic, listing many specific websites and brick-and-mortar options for handing off things you've decluttered (or want to). I'm summarizing the information here and supplementing it with some other options I found. The items covered include:
- Batteries
- Bicycles
- Boats
- Building Supplies
- Cars
- Car Seats
- Christmas Trees (artificial)
- Cleaning Supplies
- Computer Equipment / TVs/ Electronics
- Law Mowers (non-functioning)
- Light Bulbs
- Luggage
- Medical Gear
- Motor Oil, Filters, Containers
- Packing Materials
- Paint Cans
- Power Tools
- Rugs
- Scrap Metal
- Sports Equipment
- Tires
- Vacuum Cleaners
- Call2Recycle (phone: 877-2partners with Lowe's, the Home Depot and local hardware stores for this service, and you can find a local drop-off site
- BigGreenBox.com (phone: 877-461-2345) disposes of batteries for a shipping fee.
- Mom's Organic Market Click on the "our purpose" tab, and then "recycle center" on the drop-down menu. If you tend to use a LOT of batteries, you can order recycle containers/kits through them.
- NOTE: Car batteries are accepted by many auto parts retailers or repair shops; check your local stores
- Check local bike shops for in-store donation programs
- International Bicycle Fund lists organizations that recycle bikes
- Bikes for the World (phone: 703-740-78560) has drop-off areas in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Massachusetts and Illinois
- Boat Angel (phone: 800-227-2643) and
- Boats With Causes (phone: 888-228-7320) using funds from selling boats for various causes, including food and surgeries for those in need
- Habitat for Humanity ReStore locations can be found at the habitat.org site, and they accept flooring, unused lumber, light fixtures, doors, windows, bricks, fencing, and other household items and cars (see next section); call your nearest site to confirm what they accept.
Cars Numerous organizations accept cars as donations and then resell them to fund their programs. Forbes Magazine also listed Habitat for Humanity as one of their top 5 places to donate cars, and the following list includes the Forbes list as well as the AARP list.
- Habitat for Humanity Call 877-277-4344 to give details and schedule pickup.
- Ronald McDonald House Charities (phone: 855-227-7435)
- Salvation Army
- Goodwill
- Canine Companions for Independence (phone: 866-398-4483)
- Vehicles for Veterans (phone: 855-811-4838)
- The Arc (phone: 877 272-2270)
- Wheels for Wishes of the Make a Wish Foundation (phone: 855-278-9474)
- Junk My Car
- Recycle Your Car Seat
- Car Seat Recycling
- Target stores accept kids' car seats for recycling twice a year, usually spring and fall.
Christmas Trees (artificial): per AARP, "Artificial trees cannot be recycled, so either they go in the garbage or get donated. Check with nearby senior centers, churches or other non-profit organizations."
Cleaning Supplies Okay, this is a biggie. At least from my organizing experience, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene / toiletries create a huge volume of trash when people start decluttering. "Tried it, didn't like it." "Bought it, never tried it." (And now so old it's ridiculous...) This following links pertain to cleaning type items, however, as they tend to be hazardous and corrosive.
The EPA has info on hazardous household waste (HHW) disposal and lists of what should and should not go down your drain. see epa.gov/hw/household-hazardous-waste-hhw For answers as to what qualifies as hazardous household waste, go here https://www.epa.gov/hw/learn-basics-hazardous-waste
Specifically in Florida, each county has a program for dealing with HHW; see the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for fairly straightforward information about where to go.
Computer Equipment/ TVs / Electronics
This is a really tough category for people, as it has potentially serious personal consequences due to all the personal data that may be stored on these items. It should go without saying that you need to be sure you've safely cleaned any computers and devices of sensitive personal data before disposing of them, but that task in itself is usually on a long-procrastinated to-do list for most of my clients...
- Best Buy, recycles most computer equipment for free, monitors cost $30; up to 3 items per household per day; TVs, for $25 fee, and of course it's your most local option, as there are 4 of them in Jacksonville.
- GreenDisk, computer hard drives, not monitors
- World Computer Exchange, old computers
- Globetops redistributes working laptops to those in need
- Computers With Causes, attempt to repair or refurbish working units to give to needy people. Call at 888-228-7329 or go online to start the process.
- TVs: Some manufacturers have recycling drop-off locations.
- Sony
- Samsung On this page, there is an option for consumer electronics, mobile phones and appliances.
- LG - - The nearest LG site for residents in the Jacksonville area is in South Carolina, so the GreenerGadgets website directs you to the Salvation Army Thrift Store on Lem Turner Rd in Jacksonville as a drop-off point for LG TVs, phone 904-765-8669.
- Local organizations (shelters, churches, schools or nursing homes) may also accept working units.
- Scrapyards may accept "dead" lawn mowers, but "For gas mowers, this means draining out all of the oil and gas before bringing it to a dump or scrap metal center. Electric mowers can be brought straight to a household electrical recycling center." (Read more here on how to dispose of a lawn mower)
- Various chain stores, Ikea, Lowe's, the Home Depot, and True Value have recycling programs for compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and other fluorescent bulbs. Again, call your local stores for more details.
- Per this article at TreeHugger, incandescent bulbs have no hazardous chemicals, so they may be disposed of in household garbage. Halogen bulbs also should be placed in household trash rather than recycled, as they contain many fine wires.
- LEDs are often accepted by local curb-side recycling programs--call yours to find out.
Local foster care agencies, department of social services, or homeless shelters may accept gently used luggage.
- Project CURE, currently specifically targeting the Ukraine with assistance
- Samaritan's Purse Call to confirm what they will accept, and before shipping anything to them
- Crutches 4 Kids; for $20 you can ship crutches shorter than 48 inches
- Med-Eq, donations of unused or lightly used medical equipment and supplies
- Advocates for World Health, uses medical equipment donations for relief agencies in developing countries.
- Local nursing homes, hospitals or care facilities may take donations, and my own experience has been that a few thrift stores that support specific causes will take some personal hygiene items such as adult diapers, bed protector pads, etc., but this is not as common.
Motor Oil, Filters, and Containers
Most retailers that sell motor oil will accept used oil, filters and containers. Check
- Jiffy Lube,
- Walmart Auto Care centers, and
- AutoZone
Packing Materials
This depends on type--
- Kraft paper can be recycled along with cardboard
- Packing peanuts:
- Compostable (simply run them under water to see if they disintegrate); either dissolve them in your own sink and run them down the drain, or place in compost bins
- Non-compostable (don't dissolve in water), a local shipping store may take back the peanuts and other packing materials such as air pillows
Jacksonville, FL specific RecyclePlz.com, or Earth911. At Earth911 (a very handy website!!), click on the "where to recycle" button, then search the menu options on the left side of the page for the specific item you're interested in, then input your ZIP code in the appropriate box and hit search. Earth911 will show you the nearest facility that handles the particular item.
- WATER-based paints, Latex and Acrylic:
- If the cans have only a tiny amount left in them, simply leave the lid off of the can until it dries out and the can can be placed along with other regular trash; OR
- Add kitty litter or newspaper equal to the amount of paint left in the can, wait until paint has dried into litter or newspaper before putting the can into the regular garbage; OR
- Donate larger amounts of paint to your local high school drama department or other theater group.
- OIL-based paint: Again, even if only a small amount is left in the can, it must be emptied; paint what's left onto paper, a board, or some other item where it can dry and then be disposed of.
- Again, Habitat for Humanity ReStore...
- Vietnam Veterans of America, and they will come pick them up
- Salvation Army, also will pick up items
- Check with local hardware stores which may accept old tools for spare parts or to collect recycling rebates.
- Approved recycling facilities will take old power tools and may even pay you something for them.(Remove any rechargeable batteries for separate proper recycling process.)
Habitat for Humanity Restore, nursing homes, or shelters if rugs are in good condition. Used carpet and carpet padding cannot be donated for health reasons, but it can be recycled. In Nassau County, the Sandhill Recycling Center takes carpeting. As a side note, however, we had a rather large supply of carpet pad, in very good condition, when we removed the existing carpeting, advertised it on Marketplace, and the number of interested people was crazy!!
As it is a valuable and often sellable item, it's worth your time to do the footwork to find out about your particular "collection" of scrap metal. First use the EPA site to determine if it's hazardous, and to get further guidance on disposal, or hire a company that specializes in such disposal.
Earth911 will be a good resource to find nearest facilities that handle various types of metal, including aerosol cans, aluminum items, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, metal tags, paint cans, appliances, steel cans and lids.
- Soccer: Peace Passers
- Golf:
- Bunkers in Baghdad, sends to troops
- The First Tee, new and used golf clubs
- Tee It Up for the Troops, clubs
- Tennis Rackets: Kids Serving Kids (there's a chapter in Delray Beach, FL)
- Baseball/Softball: Pitch In for Baseball & Softball, community-based programs for underprivileged kids worldwide
- High schools or colleges might also accept equipment
- Some dealers accept old ones when you buy new
- Generally, curbside programs don't pick up tires; call your municipality to see if you can schedule a special pickup
- Locally, Fernandina Beach and Callahan recycling centers both accept tires; for all other Jacksonville locations, insert your ZIP code into the search box on Earth911 for a location nearest you.
- Best Buy accepts stick, robot and upright/canister vacuums (wet/dry vacuums not accepted), with a limit of 3 items (all categories) accepted per day per person.
- Scrapyards will disassemble them for parts (City of Jacksonville as well as Fernandina Beach accept vacuums 😊).
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