January Waste Reduction Tips

The new year is a time to think about the person you want to be.  With these simple waste-reduction tips, you can easily resolve to be a greener you this year.

Opt-Out Programs

Start this year fresh and save time, energy and waste by lessening your junk mail. You can remove your name from credit lists, catalogs and more­. Visit https://kingcounty.catalogchoice.org/ and https://www.optoutprescreen.com/.

Technology

If you were lucky to receive electronics during the holidays, you might have an older version to recycle. Give your device to a friend, donate it or sell it online. Alternatively, King County’s Take it Back program lists drop-off locations for recycling cell phones, computers, TVs, and printers. They even have four Seattle locations on their website! http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/takeitback/electronics/index.asp

The CD Recycling Center of America is a mail-in program for CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes and their cases. Asking for only donations, the recycling center has printable shipping labels and easy instructions on their website. They also offer options for data destruction. http://www.cdrecyclingcenter.com/

For battery-powered gadgets, consider buying rechargeable batteries and a battery charger.

Holiday Clean-Up

Many Puget Sound locations will accept holiday lights to recycle. Visit King County’s website for specific locations:
http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/ecoconsumer/holiday-light-recycling.asp

Take foam peanuts to a mailing store, like UPS. Call ahead to make sure they can accept them. Reuse ribbon, wrapping and decorations. If every family in the U.S. reused just 2 feet of holiday ribbon, we could save 38,000 miles of ribbon.

King County has more great ideas:
http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/ecoconsumer/recycle-the-holidays.asp