Recycling - Los Altos,CA

Hi J.~
Try www.freecycle.org. It is a great place to get or get rid of stuff and it's free!

Lucy B.

Check out freecycle.org in your area. It is a "free only" site where people can offer up items that others may want (you would be SURPRISED what people are willing to take off of your hands!).

I love freecycle also it is a yahoo group. Also craigslist.org has a free section that you can post your free stuff on- always have good luck with it.

GOD BLESS
B.

what kinds of things are you looking to recycle? If it's assorted things that you think someone else could use, try joining your local "Freecycle" network http://www.freecycle.org/

it depends on where you live, it might be listed in her local phone book, or on yellowpages.com. many things can be recycled which a good thing. For some things you don't get paid for it.

Here's what I do: freecycle for stuff I cannot donate to a thrift store: stuff like cardboard boxes, packing material (besides styrofoam peanuts which I take to a UPS store), dishwashing powder that I didn't like, partially used shampoo; dog food, etc. I usually can pass stuff on via freecycle. Even a sewing machine that had been deemed unrepairable. I also give a lot of stuff away to thrift stores and sell some clothes via consignment stores, but that stuff has to be really nice and current. Building supplies can be donated to Habitat for Humanity. But, most of things that I list on freecycle are taken. There is a place in Berkeley that takes some unusually stuff for reuse, such as Rx bottles, empty paper towel rolls. Sometimes I'll list something in freecycle and someone will let me know a place that might want it. Good-luck.

You may find something useful here: http://www.sfenvironment.org, I haven't tried it past San Bruno, but sometimes places come up in San Jose.

You don't say what kind of recycling you are interested in but for practically anything that you use in the house that you no longer need/want, you can post on Freecycle.org (sign up for your local group) and then post away!

People who want your stuff will come pick it up. If there's anything you want from others, you contact them then if you're the one who gets it, you go pick it up.

Anything goes on here, it seems - must be free and legal and not a living thing (no pets or kids. Plants are ok.) Cardboard boxes for moving, unfinished crafts projects, glass jars, wood pieces, furniture, clothing, baby stuff, etc.

When we were looking to get rid of the two twin boxsprings we had because we were putting our sets onto a bunk bed, we found, much to our surprise, nowhere that would take them, not even the thrift stores!! We did not want to just take them to the dump site! Someone told us about freecycle.org and sure enough, there were so many people needing them, I felt bad I only had two to give away!

I've also heard craigs list is another site, but I dont know how effective they are as I use freecycle all the time.

Besides Freecycle, which is simply awesome, there's RAFT--there's a huge facility in San Jose and a smaller one just opened in Redwood Shores. They take all kinds of 'stuff' there--office supplies, paper, baby food jars...check out the website (RAFT.org I think) and you'll see the list of stuff they take and don't take. Teachers come there and get 'stuff' for their classrooms--art projects, paper supplies, 'creation stations'--it's an awesome place!

For real recycling, the best and most organized place I've found is the Ben Lomond Greenwaste facility in Santa Cruz county. We've been cleaning out my late parents' house to get it ready for market, and they take scrap metal, all plastics, e-waste, electrical cords, haz mat (cleaning fluids, old paints), batteries, old wood is chipped up into mulch....if you're not sure, just give them a call--Greenwaste.

And for styrofoam (packaging pieces) there's a company in Walnut Creek that turns it into molding for homes! They'll take your white styrofoam in big garbage bags. We get medication shipped to us once a month in these stupid styro boxes, and once every 6 or 8 months I drive over there and dump them all off.

Thanks for recycling, and enjoy Freecycle!

L.