Recycling Resources

Do you want to do your part to recycle, but don't know where to donate your items? Here is a list to point you in the right direction. Each person in America sends an average of 259 pounds of trash to the landfill each year. Find out what can be recycled in your town; learn more about the West Boylston Recycling Program here.

ALUMINUM CANS AND GLASS BOTTLES

• Recycle aluminum cans. Americans throw out enough aluminum every 3 months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet!
• Recycle glass bottles. 1 recycled bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours.

APPLIANCES

• Ways to recycle your appliances from GreenYour.com.

ART AND CRAFT MATERIALS

• Holden Recycling Center provides free art and craft materials and a meeting place available for anyone in Central Massachusetts. Volunteers staff the Center, located on Boyden Road in Holden which is open on: Monday 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Thursday 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Resource Center will close when the Wachusett School District closes due to weather.

PAPER

• Visit the WB Recycling website for more information:
• In addition to recycling your paper in the town's recycling program, you can also stop the delivery of "junk mail" to your home by adding your name to the National Do Not Mail list.

INK CARTRIDGES

• Best Buy and Staples recycle inkjet cartridges. Staples even gives you a $3.00 credit for each recycled cartridge through the mail.. Best Buy also recycles CDs/DVDs, and gift cards.

ELECTRONICS

Recycle used electronics. Consumers will throw out over 400 million electronic items this year.

• You can recycle your old computers to the DPW for a fee of $20.00 per unit. Please call 508-835-4820 to arrange for the drop off or for more information.
• Donate your old cell phone to soldiers overseas.
• Donate unwanted desktops or laptops to The World Computer Exchange a nonprofit that aims to keep computers out of landfills by giving them to disadvantaged kids in more than 65 countries.
• Used computers, televisions, cell phones, and empty ink cartridges can also be donated to Earth911.
• Old computers, printers, and software can be provided to support to the National Cristina Foundation, which supplies electronics to charities across the country that support at-risk children, people with disabilities, and the underprivileged.
• Used cell are accepted by The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence to benefit women who might need one in an emergency.

BATTERIES AND COMPACT FLUORESCENT BULBS

• Home Depot has recycling bins for compact fluorescent bulbs and batteries.
• Best Buy also recycles rechargeable batteries.

PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS

• Reuse plastic and paper shopping bags in your trash can. When 1 ton of plastic bags are reused, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil is saved.
  Recycle plastic bags at CVS or your local grocery store.

VIDEO GAME SYSTEMS

• Handheld electronic gaming systems, one of the items most requested by troops stationed abroad can be donated to Games for Heroes and sent to U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• The Get-Well Gamers Foundation collects video-game systems and games to distribute to more than 40 children's hospitals and treatment facilities across the country.

CLOTHING

• Old suits, dresses, work-appropriate clothes, and accessories can be donated to Dress for Success to help disadvantaged women find and maintain employment. Career Gear accepts used men's clothing.
• Brides Against Breast Cancer accepts wedding gowns, slips, and veils and sells them at events across the country. All proceeds go to makingmemories.org, a foundation that grants final wishes to women who have terminal breast cancer.
• Patagonia's Common Threads Garment Recycling program will accept worn-out fleece clothing and recycle them into new clothes.
• Soles4Souls provides shoes to people who have lost everything in the natural disasters and to people in need here and around the world.

LINENS

• Donate your used blankets, towels & linens to an animal shelters to use in the animal cages. Click here to find a shelter near you.
• Contribute your used furniture, such as beds, couches, and dining room tables, to your local chapter of the National Furniture Bank Association. who provide furniture to victims of hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes.

GLASSES

• The Lions Club will accept used prescription eyeglasses. Beaman Library has a drop box in the foyer on Newton Street where you can donate your glasses to the Lions Club.
• Nonprescription sunglasses are accepted and sent to people in Africa who don't have access to eye care through Unite for Sight.

SPORTS EQUIPMENT

• Help educators purchase items they need that are beyond their school's budget, including sporting goods such as jump ropes, hula hoops, and basketballs at I Love Schools
• Sportsgift.org uses your donations to create community sports programs for under privileged children worldwide.They accept just about any type of sports equipment.
• Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe campaign collects all brands of used athletic shoes, which are recycled into basketball courts and running tracks.

BOOKS AND MEDIA

• Beaman Library accepts donations to The Friends "Used Book and More" sale from January to April each year. Bring donations into the library during regular business hours.
• The Global Literacy Project also collects used books for its worldwide literacy programs.
• Donate used magazines to local hospitals, women's shelters, and retirement homes.
• Kid Flicks will donate your used DVDs to children's hospitals and pediatric wards.

VEHICLES, CAR OIL & BATTERIES

• Car oil and batteries can be dropped off at the DPW. Please call 508-835-4820 for more details.
• Habitat for Humanity and Cars for Kids accept vehicle donations.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

• The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, inspired by the movie accepts used instruments which will be refurbished and given to underfunded school music programs through the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation.
  

Ways to and reduce your impact
on the earth