Best Buy is a Good Bet for Recycling Batteries

I've been collecting spent batteries in a coffee cup on my counter for a few weeks now.  I've made the switch to rechargeables, and as if my batteries-in-use knew the jig was up, they all seemed to conk out at once.  The outdoor sensor for my weather station, the indoor station, the TV remote...they were dropping like flies.  I also had two spent ink jet printer cartridges that I moved around from place to place in my office.  I knew not to drop them in the trash, but... surely I can't throw these in the blue recycling bin!

I knew Home D collected spent CFL lightbulbs - I googled "recycle batteries" to quickly check if they took these other things as well.  Up came Best Buy first.  Since they're really close, I popped over today.  Even before I entered the store, I saw their recycling bins with big signs: batteries, ink jet cartridges, and cell phones.  Easy being green...

Their website states that they also accept other small appliances and electric cords.  I have small tangle of orphan cords outside in the garage. Once I unearth that, those will go too!  I expect I'll actually have to enter the store for that task!

They don't even make it in the house...

About 90% of my mail never makes it inside my front door.

My trip to the curb-side mailbox always includes a stopover at my recycling bin.  Flyers, coupons, those unsolicited VAL-U-PACs and U-SAVE-UMs go right in the bin.  Those fake newspapers titled THRIFTY-SAVE and the like go in, too.

Catalogs get a slightly different treatment.  I rip off the back cover, the part that includes my address, and throw the rest in the bin.  (Ok, I admit there are a couple magazines that I'll flip through before I recycle, but there aren't many.)  I take those address pages inside and fire up Catalog Choice (http://www.catalogchoice.org/) my favorite place to stop unwanted catalog mailings.  I've been a member for several years, and had really reduced the number of direct mail catalogs.  However, my recent move across the country, to sunny Encinitas (aka "Paradise") landed me back on all the mailing lists, it seems.  Catalog Choice collects my customer number and source code for each catalog and gets me off those infernal lists.

Opt Out PreSceen (https://www.optoutprescreen.com) gets me off the lists from credit card and insurance companies who troll for my (completely unlikely) business.

They don't come in the mail, but those gigantic phonebooks that trip you up when they magically appear on your doorstop (Who uses phonebooks?  They are sooo 12 years ago!) can also be stopped.  Check out http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/

Slowly, I'm finding and using other opt-out services to reduce unwanted mail and cut down on the time I spend standing over my recycling bin.  What services do you use to cut down on unwanted/unread mail?

What a Waste!

"...of our insatiable consumption, only 7% of the materials 'consumed' actually become saleable products - 93% is waste.

Of the 7% that actually becomes a usable product, fully 80% is discarded after one use and 99% because waste within six weeks of its purchase by consumers."

- Daniel Sitarz, "Greening Your Business"