Clean aluminum foil can usually be placed in the recycling bin with aluminum cans. It is better to crumple a lot of it together to create at least a golf ball size of it before putting it in your curbside bin.

The Tom’s of Maine Natural Care Brigade program through TerraCycle recycles any brand of deodorant tubes, soap containers, and other bathroom leftovers by mailing it to them for recycling. Some deodorant tubes are accepted in curbside or local drop-off areas. If your area accepts these via curbside, remove the dial at bottom of the tube, and then rinse with soap, and water to remove any residual product.

If they are still in working order, you can give them away, sell them or donate them to non profits. If they no longer work, recycle them, call the Appliance Recycling Centers of America at 1-800-599-5792. Your local appliance store will likely be of help too. Best Buy accepts most electronics and large appliances and will take them at no charge, reach out before hauling them to a store. The EPA’s Energy Star Program, and some local gas and electric companies, provide special offers and rebates for recycling large appliances when you purchase new Energy Star models.

Contact your city’s recycling program, and ask how they handle Freon® recycling and ask about safe disposal practices in your area.

Stores like RadioShack and Office Depot accept rechargeable batteries.

If it is still usable, donate it to a local thrift store or children’s hospital, where others can enjoy it. If repairable, repair and reuse and/or donate it! If it’s not repairable, check your local and regional recycling programs to see if that type of plastic is recyclable in your area. Putting the wrong plastics into a recycle collection is damaging to recycling facilities.

These can be recycled in the paper bin. For hardback books, remove the cover first. Alternatively, you can donate them to your local library or Booksforsoldiers.com.

Ask your local recycling center. 

Metal tops can usually be recycled. They may ask you to recycle these in an aluminum can and crimp the top of the can, so that the bottle caps are trapped and do not get caught up in the conveyor belt.

Some recycling centers accept them with other plastics. Contact yours to find out if caps can stay on the bottle, if they need to be recycled separately, or if they can be tossed.

A lot of people make their own bone broth and would be happy to have your chicken and turkey carcasses as well as beef and bison bones.

If they are 200lb crush weight (in the circle on the bottom of the box) UPS type stores will often take them. Local artists might want them for shipping fragile items. Big appliance boxes make great forts for kids and cats alike. Grab the markers and crayons and get creative with them. If you have a business that gets merchandise in a bunch of the same size boxes, offer them to people for organizing or shipping other items before just recycling them.

Take it to businesses like The UPS Store, Mail Boxes Etc., or FedEx for recycling. Call ahead for specific information. Bubble mailers are often accepted at used bookstores when they mail books.

These are always in demand in my community. Ask a friend or organization if they could use them rather than shredding and recycling them. Thoroughly clean out metal pails and take them to a recycling center that accepts metal. Some recycling centers accept only certain types of metal, so call ahead first. If they are rusted out on the bottom, they make great flower planters.

Most city and municipal recycling centers accept these. Make sure all the remaining pressure is released first. Vent the remaining gas and punch a whole through the sidewall using a screwdriver or other sharp object, so you can safely put it into a recycling container.

Cut the metal ends off cans containing powdered cleansers, such as Ajax and Bon Ami, and put them in with other household metals. Recycle the tubes with paperboard or cardboard.

Patagonia, Nike and H&M accept returns of their used clothes for recycling or reuse. Local charities or consignment stores accept worn clothing, including those that you think may be too damaged to donate and they often work together bundling damaged items for rags or recycling. Harmony Recycling offers synthetic textile recycling.

You can mail your worn out denim jeans to the Blue Jeans Go Green recycling program, where they recycle it into denim insulation for civic buildings and new homes in communities that need it most.

Home Depot and IKEA and other similar stores offer free CFL recycling in all their stores, call ahead before taking them. You can also purchase mail-back containers from recycleabulb.com to recycle from home or work. Office Depot is another option.

Most manufacturers have take-back and recycling options. Through a program called Dell Reconnect, you can donate your Dell to participating Goodwill stores, where they refurbish and resell or recycle your computer. FreeGeek.org is a nonprofit that accepts almost all technology with an emphasis on reuse.

Concrete can be reused as paving stones or small garden walls. Ask around. Landscape designers and homeowners may be willing to take old concrete off your hands. Also, check with local businesses that sell topsoil, gravel and other similar materials. They often accept old concrete, but may charge a small fee, but so does the dump, so why not give it a second chance. I’ve also seen stained concrete used in landscaping and it’s stunning.

It’s easy to give your cookware away to a new home through Facebook or Craigslist. Thrift stores like Goodwill and The Salvation Army and local non profits also take these. If not, they are scrap metal.

They’re not recyclable, so you can’t just toss them along with their paper junk-mail solicitations. Remove them first and throw them in the trash. Cut up the real ones.

Paper FedEx envelopes can be recycled.

Those ubiquitous mustard-colored envelopes are NOT recyclable, because goldenrod paper (as well as dark or fluorescent paper) is saturated with hard-to-remove dyes. In other words, designed for the dump. If possible, use white, light-colored or recycled envelopes instead.

Metal frames can be recycled with other scrap metal, but first consider donating them to someone in need. Small quantities of collected eyewear can be dropped off at your local LensCrafters, Sears Optical or Pearle Vision locations. More info can be found at onesight.org and local Lions Clubs take them too.

By cutting off the ends, they can be recycled in some cities. They can be reused in a variety of ways like protecting outside electric cords.

Gift cards from companies like Chipotle, LL Bean and Wal-Mart are biodegradable corn-based cards that will naturally decompose in a compost pile. If you are a business, consider making them out of paper, and reuse them once the balance has been used.

Normalize second hand. Regift things you don’t love, it doesn’t have to be new to be special. And when giving, fabric bags, newspaper, magazines or scarves make great wrapping paper. As a kid, we reused Christmas wrapping paper and tags so often, sometimes we’d end up with the wrong present! Memories like this are amazing.

Window and bottle glass have different melting temperatures, so they need to be recycled separately. If the windows are not broken, places like Habitat for Humanity accept them, or offer them to your community members as a lot of people build greenhouses from them.

Bottles that are marked with a #1 or #2 recycling symbols are recyclable.

Non paper promotional items in magazines should be removed because they jam up recycling equipment (scented perfume strips, on the other hand, are fine). Promotional stickers and stamps (think address labels), can adhere to the machinery.

Grass clippings can be used as mulch or added to your compost pile. If you need a new mower consider starting a lawnmower co-op with your friends and share the costs. Ask about local yard waste disposal.

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children recycles your used greeting cards and creates new holiday and all-occasion greeting cards. Some artists and teachers also use them.

Senior centers and similar organizations may also have a craft area where they upcycle cards into new ones for sale to help raise money. When you are ordering announcements or cards, please consider printing them on paper instead of photo paper that isn’t as easily reused or recycled. Our planet thanks you.

The easiest way to use grey water is to collect it in a dishpan when you hand wash dishes, and then use it to water your flowers, plants and trees. I use the water from dog and cat bowls this way too. You can also take a bucket into the shower with you and use that water in the same way. There are also ways to divert water directly from your washing machine.

Jam jars, baby food jars and jars that are smaller than these are often sought after by artists and jewelry makers to organize their beads. Plastic or glass, as long as they are clear. Bonus points if you have all the same size to give away as they are easier to stack and organize.

Gold, silver and platinum can be recycled for cash. Who doesn’t like cash? Antique stores or consignment jewelry stores may be interested in your gemstones. Thrift stores accept even low-value and costume jewelry, which often sells well. Reach out to an artist as they might be interested in your broken or unwanted jewelry to repurpose into new jewelry or art projects. I use only up-cycled glass beads in the Prairie Glass Jewelry I create.

1800gotjunk.com recycles many items. A free sign next to the items you want to give away in your front yard goes a long way. It’s easy to give things away on Facebook or Craigslist.

You can sell your Legos on eBay, Craigslist etc. Since plastic #7 can be difficult to recycle, donating them to a toy library or nonprofit organization is a great choice.

If your state does not require the old plates to be turned in, aluminum license plates can be added to your curbside bin or recycled with scrap metal. There are a lot of people who collect these, so recycling should be your last option.

Sadly, most cities do not accept traditional incandescent light bulbs and should be thrown away. And, really, what is “away”? Switch to low energy light bulbs, which are collected at stores like Home Depot.

Check with your local recycling facility. They may be able to recycle mirrors, even if they are broken. Mirrors in usable condition can be donated to secondhand stores, or given away. Broken mirrors can be used by artists or art teachers/professors to create mosaics, so that’s another option.

An old iPod can fetch you 10% off a new one at any Apple store. Target also accepts MP3 players in their recycling collection bins.

These can be donated or recycled as scrap metal.

The paper portion of most notebooks can be recycled with your regular paper recycling. If you have used vegetable or soy-based inks to write on it, you can compost the notebook. Remove the spiral and put it in with scrap metal or ask local artists, art studios or galleries if they know of someone who would use them.

Staples are sorted out by machinery during recycling, so you can recycle these with paper.

If the cover is plastic, remove it first and try and find a way to reuse it, or an art teacher might use it.

Nylon is a “thermoplastic” and can be recycled in some places. Old nylons also make great lint traps for washing machines that drain into a sink. I used an old bread twist tie to attach it so I could take it off and empty the lint every once in a while.

Made of mixed plastic, number 7 plastics have traditionally not been recycled, though some curbside programs now take them.

Grocery stores often have drop-off bins for plastic bags. Paper bags can be recycled with other paper products. Better yet, use a cloth bag or backpack that you already have.

Used Saran Wrap and other plastic film like dry cleaner bags are recyclable at certain facilities that take hard to recycle items. Visit plasticfilmrecycling.org to find out more specific types of plastic film to recycle, including toilet paper packaging.

This link will help you recycle: Air Pillows, Bubble Wrap, Bubble Wrap Mailers, Sealed Air Instapak Foam, Sealed Air Polyethylene Foam, Korrvu packaging, Sealed Air Paper Packaging, Sealed Air Stealth Wrap cartoning film, kraft mailers and poly mailers, and food trays.

If your plastic toys are in good shape, consider finding the toy a new home. Organizations like Stuffed Animals For Emergencies collect toys for children in crisis situations. Domestic Metals and Plastics accepts plastic toys of all types for recycling, and this is a link to their mail in program.

Clean, save and reuse. I had a bucket at a wedding party with a sign asking people to put the dirty utensils in there. We washed them and passed them on to someone else. Disposable cutlery is recyclable if your curbside provider accepts plastic #6, so confirm with them. A local art teacher or art supply store may accept donations for creative projects.

Shredded paper has less fiber value, so be sure to check with your local recycling service to see if they will accept it. If you have used non-toxic inks, you can put it in your compost pile. Shredded paper also makes great packing material and some people also use it for animal bedding.

Six-pack rings can be recycled in programs that accept plastic #4. Before you put these in your recycling bin, spend 5 seconds and make sure to cut all the circles apart. You might also consider getting a group collection together and participating in the Hi-Cone Ring Leader Recycling Program. Better yet, buy your drinks in paperboard that is much easier to recycle.

Some states conduct an annual round up of smoke alarms and several manufacturers accept used ones. Curie Environmental Services offers smoke alarm recycling.

Reuse slivers of soap to make liquid soap. If you are in the hospitality business like a hotel or bed and breakfast donate your pieces to Clean The World, a nonprofit organization that combats preventable disease in developing countries. 

Many bathroom bottles are easily recyclable. Better yet, use a shampoo bar from my friend Queen of the Meadow. 

A quick search for dish soap bars or tablets to mix with water eliminates plastic bottles.

Use your mismatched socks as a dust rag, drink cozy or dog toy. Animal shelters might accept clean socks for dog toys.

TerraCycle and Preserve Eco accepts toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes through their mail-back program. You can also get ahead of the game by using a toothbrush, which is made of recycled yogurt cups and ocean plastic. When you are ready to replace it, these toothbrushes can be recycled with #5 plastics or mailed back. Aluminum toothpaste tubes can be recycled. Ask your dentist to participate in this program if they don’t already!

Total Awards & Promotions offers a mail-in trophy recycling program that benefits nonprofits. Call to see what can be recycled in your area. An artist or art teacher might recycle these into something fun too.

Check with stores like Best Buy, Sony and Office Depot about removing and recycling a set when it delivers a new one. You can also sell/donate them locally as well. Some towns sponsor collection days for TVs and other electronics. Find out if one is scheduled in your area, and share that information widely.

Contact DuPont for used and printed Tyvek® for recycling into park benches and playground equipment.

Once you remove the fabric and handle from a metal umbrella, the skeleton can be recycled with scrap metal and check to see if the fabric can be recycled locally through a thrift store. Plastic umbrellas are not recyclable, but can be donated if they are still in good condition. The metal skeleton might be of interest for a Halloween costume or art project, so ask around.

Visit lifenets.org to donate wheelchairs to others in need. Local organizations might also be interested in them, or helping you find someone locally in need.

Rinse each bottle well before putting it in the recycling bin for glass. If you are taking it to a local recycling center, you may want to separate the colored glass out, since it fetches a higher price. Before recycling, consider finding someone who cuts and recycles them into drinking glasses.

By supporting ReCORK’s recycling program, you will be giving new life to perfectly good natural cork. Visit recork.org to find a drop-off location or recycling partner. Perhaps your local liquor store has a drop off location to. If not, ask them to start one. Plastic ones can’t be recycled or composted.

Copper is the most recycled wire material. Check to see if uncovered wiring can be placed with your curbside recycling. If not, scrap metal bins around your town are a good option. Check with a local scout troop as they sometimes have collection drives. Artists or art teachers/professors might be interested.

Check out this link: reusewood.org

If there is not a location near you, call your local materials reuse outlet or Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Many people use random scraps of solid wood as firewood, so ask around.

Contact your local scrap metal recycling service, or add your buy or sell inquiries into the Scrap Zinc Recycling Exchange on recycle.net.

As long as they are clean and dry, used Ziploc® bags can go in the same bins as plastic shopping bags at your local grocery store. Visit plasticfilmrecycling.org to find out more specific types of plastic film to recycle, including toilet paper packaging.

Donate your used zippers to a sewer or crafter. Places that recycle metal may be willing to take zippers if you cut off the fabric before you drop them off.