Reducing Consumption: How to Recycle Washing Machines and Dryers

Reducing Consumption: How to Recycle Washing Machines and Dryers

Removing large appliances can be challenging and require extra care. The good news is that there are safe ways to dispose of items like a washing machine and dryer without putting your health or the environment in danger. Please continue reading to find tips to recycle large items like these the right way.

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Make Green Living easier with these free zero-waste checklists

Make Green Living easier with these free zero-waste checklists

Guest post by Jeff Smith

 A huge part of reducing your carbon footprint is being mindful of the amount of waste you produce on a day-to-day basis. While businesses and corporations are hugely responsible for their impact on our planet, individual consumers make up a lot of the waste as well, so it’s on all of us to do our part to leave the earth in better shape than when we first entered it.

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Helping Kids Learn to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Helping Kids Learn to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Guest post by Bob Roberts

By reducing the amount of natural resources you consume, reusing items that would otherwise go to waste, and recycling trash so it can be repurposed, you’re helping ensure a brighter future for children today. However, planning for the future includes not only taking steps in the present, but also preparing for tomorrow. By teaching children good conservation practices today, you’ll contribute to a cleaner future. Children who learn how to reduce, reuse and recycle now will gain the foundation they need to pass those practices on to their children and continue preserving natural resources.

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What Is Battery Recycling and How Can You Recycle Nickel Batteries?

What Is Battery Recycling and How Can You Recycle Nickel Batteries?

People use 4-5 wireless devices powered by batteries on an average in their daily lives. Batteries contain environmentally hazardous heavy metals, which must be removed from traditional waste treatment systems. While these batteries do not pose threat to humans when in use, they can affect human, animal and aquatic life if not disposed of properly. Like newspapers, glass and plastic, batteries can and must be recycled and help us save the environment.

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Can you really go green when buying new electronics?

Can you really go green when buying new electronics?

Guest post by Zack Gallinger/Revolution

I’m going to level with you. If you’re buying brand new electronics, which is a necessity in our day and age, it’s almost impossible to really go green.

Electronics are complicated items, containing thousands of different components constructed of hundreds of different elements. They are literally the most complicated stuff we know how to build and are also inherently difficult to recycle. So how can we do our best to keep it green? How can we minimize our impact and be good stewards of this Earth while still having the newest, fastest, highest resolution and most powerful handheld device ever conceived?

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Here’s Why You Should Recycle These Electronics (and How)

Here’s Why You Should Recycle These Electronics (and How)

guest post by Tiffany Jersey

When you think about your smart phone or tablet, or even the batteries that you use in your remote, do you think about much more than their capabilities? Probably not: you’re mostly worrying about the Wi-Fi connection speed you have or the apps you want to download, or even just how long the batteries will power your remote.

But what goes in to all that tech is important because of what happens to it after you’re done using it. The U.S. is the biggest contributor to electronic waste on the planet, and we’re churning it out at an ever-increasing rate of about 8 percent more each year. When we don’t recycle that e-waste, we’re doing more than just building up landfills (although that’s important to consider). We’re also pushing small amounts of dangerous metals back into the soil and water, where they can eventually contaminate what we consume. What can and should we do about it? The suggestions in this graphic can help.

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What Happens to Your Vehicle After It’s Donated

What Happens to Your Vehicle After It’s Donated

guest post by Goodwill Car Donation

If you have an unnecessary truck, car or any other type of vehicle that’s outlasted its usefulness, you have several options. You could try to sell it yourself, but depending on the car’s state, that could be easier said than done. You could have the car scrapped, like the nearly 12 million cars that are junked each year to be recycled — but you probably won’t receive much of a return on your investment that way, and it isn’t the most environmentally friendly choice. Donating your car to charity, however, can be a great way to rid yourself of an unnecessary car no matter what state it’s in, while also possibly getting something back in the form of a tax deduction. But before you consider donating your car, it’s important to know what will most likely happen to your vehicle once you turn it over to the nonprofit of your choice.

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How to Recycle Your Old Smartphone into a Bike Camera

How to Recycle Your Old Smartphone into a Bike Camera

Guest post by Bryan Mac Murray

Most of us try to keep up with the latest technological advances, so we have an old smartphone laying around that we aren't using anymore. You might not be surprised to learn that smartphones have become one of the largest sources of technological waste. There are millions of usable smartphones either thrown out or just left lying around every year. You can recycle your old smartphone and put it to good use by using it is a dash cam when you head out on the roads.

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Paper Is One of The Most Recycled Products in The World

Paper Is One of The Most Recycled Products in The World

guest post by Chris Landry

The amount of paper we use has somewhat forced our hand in terms of recycling. This infographic from Colourfast takes you through the progress we are making and offers insight into how we can progress even further.

There is still some confusion over what we can and can’t recycle, so it’s important that we have clarity in this area. For example, all paper envelopes can be recycled, even the ones with windows – and there is no need to remove staples, paper clips etc. from paper, since modern recycling techniques are designed to do this for us. This is an important point, as people might be turned off from recycling if they think they need to remove all the associated paraphernalia.

While the amount of paper we recycle is encouraging, it’s disappointing to see the lack of progress we are making in other areas like glass, metal, and plastic. Hopefully we can start looking at these areas more closely while continuing to increase the amount of paper that we recycle. Find out more in the infographic.

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