How to Recycle Gadgets, Clothes and Beauty [2025]

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When you really think about it, life is just a cycle of constantly getting new things and figuring out how to deal with old things. And when there is no one way to get rid of these old things properly, chaos occurs.

Most of us have the conditions to recycle some common everyday materials, but curbside recycling is not the past paper, metal, glass, and certain types of plastic. Even then, the shocking proportion of recyclable items is shocking In fact Recycle. I'll digress.

Other personal items, such as clothing, shoes, electronics and batteries, are even more confusing. Can they be recycled or is it the only option to throw them away?

Maybe you've searched for “How to Recycle Insert the item here“Just give some vague instructions, such as “do the check locally.” “You will soon learn that most municipal recycling programs do not cover garbage-like recyclables. In the past, it was difficult to fix viable ways to reduce sustainable sizes.

Fortunately, the things that get out of the difficult are not so mysterious. In many cases, there are actually reliable options to stuff all the trash under the bed and into old shoe boxes. Once a certain category has been honed – beauty, coffee maker pods, smartphones, old chargers – can often provide a super direct answer to how to recycle said items. In fact, you can usually find easy (and free) drop-off or mailing procedures.

Just insert them into a curbside recycling bin and hopefully recycled fairy tales to get them to the right place, which takes more effort. This is called the environment of desire or aspirational recycling, and if I still live happily in the ignorance of “everything can be recycled” I will definitely sleep better at night.

So to help you recycle electronics, clothing, beauty packaging and other awkward items, let's break it down in the most candid way.

How to Recycle Electronic Equipment

Electronic waste is the stupidity of rabbit holes. Like plastic pollution, most of the electronic waste (umbrellas used for improperly discarded electronic devices) comes from large tech companies. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group estimates that we generate about 6.9 million tons of e-waste each year. Among them, less than 18% of the recovery rate is correct.

But as a species that treats our personal devices as an extra limb for nearly two decades, it is also our personal responsibility to deal with old devices in the most sustainable way. Electronics in landfills not only leak dangerous toxins to the ground, but also an opportunity to recycle metals and precious rare earth minerals.

To be fair, people don’t have a complete clarity on how or where to safely recycle old equipment. A recent CNET survey found that more than 30% of American adults simply because they don’t know what to do with old phones, tablets, and chargers.

Mobile phones, laptops, TVs, etc.

You may be aware of the transaction promotions offered by smartphone operators. Similar incentives exist for devices such as iPad and Tablets. But even if the device in question is not entirely in a deal or sale state, there are still some super accessible ways to recycle the gadget without crushing it onto the parts.

Best Buy actually has a super cheap in-store electronic recycling program. Projects accepted in the store include TV, computers and routers, audio gear (from headphones to old CDs or cassette players), cameras and cameras, and video game controllers. A family can recycle up to three items per day. You can also pay the best buy to haul large items, such as an old refrigerator or treadmill.

No Best Buy store nearby? The company also offers mail recycling services.

Once received, the recycler disassembles the technology to pull out and properly get rid of ozonating substances such as PCBS, mercury and insulating materials, and then separates plastics, glass and metals (such as plastics, glass and metals) where possible.

Samsung device owners can also conduct a similar zip code search to find participating Samsung Electronics Loop Off-Center. They’ve appeared everywhere in retail stores like Best Buy and Staples, and sometimes even in your local Solid Waste Authority. Before recycling, check if Samsung will provide transaction credits in older devices – yes, on-screen counts.

Apple offers its own recycling plan for old Apple devices, and you can even get a prepaid shipping label.

Chargers, cables and dongles

That painfully old rope nest in the basement or garbage drawer is getting stronger. Instead of continuing to feed it, you can recycle old chargers and similar connectors through the Best Buy recycling program above. Apple's services also require an old Apple charger.

Battery

Call2Recycle is a national battery recycling program that offers free battery recycling in partnership stores such as Home Depot, Lowe and Staples. Go to the website and enter your postal code to find the closest to you. Please note that not all participating locations accept every type of battery, so be sure to check the box.

If no collection boxes pop up within a practical distance, Call2Recycle also has a mailed battery recycling program – although the smallest battery and phone recycling kit is $80, it's not the cheapest route.

How to Recycle Clothes and Shoes

There is a way forward for worn clothes and clothes worn on them that not only force them to be kind but also hope they are huddled on a spilled shelf.

If your clothes are in good condition, consider trying to sell them online. You don't need a large following to watch your items on Depop, Mercari, or Poshmark, just take a well-lit, clear photo, write down a detailed and honest description, and then increase the price. (See my complete guide to selling your stuff online.)

If you don't want to go online for resale, offer some mailing options to repurpose your old clothes. The Return Box is a nonprofit that works with a range of small charities from which you can choose to send items depending on their needs (e.g., children's shoes or lightly used women's clothing). Once a good fit is found, a return box will require $20 to cover the pre-found shipping label and weight of the box. Then, pack your items in any random box you want to recycle and send them out.

Of course, there are always some scattered clothes that may be worn too much to donate. Sustainable clothing brand girlfriends collectively partnered with SuperCircle, a growing textile recycling platform, to promote Regirlfriend, a very simple mail-in clothing recycling program. Shipping tags are free and you can pack multiple parts in each bag regardless of the brand. As a “thank you” and not contributing to a bunch of textiles in the landfill, my girlfriend will provide credit to airlden com.com.

How to Recycle Random Household Supplies

Ah, Swiffer pad. It turns out that the ubiquitous mops and dusty stuff is the pain of ass recycling. That's just one of the daily household items that people unconsciously trash. But what is the choice?

Well, my initial advice was to retire and buy a robot vacuum and mop combination. Even if you insist on keeping your Swiffer as a backup of some annoying corner cleaning (although I have a robot mop recommended for Corner Cleaning), a robot vacuum that can at least minimize your Swiffer usage.

When you collect enough used Swiffer supplements, you can mail them to Terracycle: a giant recycling business that provides the average consumer with an easy way to recycle everyday items that are not very good in curbside recycling. Its free mailing system covers a large number of household items, and its shipping label costs are funded by participating brands such as Swiffer, Tide, Brita, Brita, Black+Decker and Febreze.

Coffee Pods

Nespresso has many downs throughout the country to recycle pods. You can also ask for free pre-marked recycling bags to be filled in on the Nespresso website and eventually mailed back to Nespresso. (Each mailer can accommodate up to 200 original row pods or 100 Vertuo Pods.)

Keurig has a similar setup, but not for free – Keurig describes the program only through office use (e.g., “using small boxes in quotes that brew 24k cups per day or less”), without mentioning putting a box in the keurig Heavy home.

How to recycle beauty and bathroom stuff

Makeup and skin care

Although many Looks Recycling friendly, most beauty packaging is not. Many bottles that feel like glass are different from beer bottles or jelly cans, and many containers that feel like plastic are actually a special type of mixed plastic that does not belong to the numerical system used to sort in recycled plants. (This includes pain in the butt plastic pump.)

The existence of triangles with arrow symbols is misleading and does not mean that the material can be recycled. This is a crucial time to check the local area – just accept what plastic numbers in your area. (For example, I live in Philadelphia, and plastics 1, 2 and 5 are cleared for curbside.)

For beauty voids without numbers or at all, a beauty-centric backpacking program is such a move. Both Ulta and Sephora work with PACT Collective to provide recycling bins for your spaces in a large number of stores across the country. Nordstrom has partnered with Terracycle to offer a similar in-store drop-off option for beauty packaging.

Project Beauty Share is a great choice to make your open skincare products a new home as long as they are not expired. Accepted light beauty items include moisturizers and serums, cleansers, body lotions, shower gels, perfumes and sunscreens. If open, you can accept a tube, blush and highlighter with foundation or primer, but only use it.

Hairstyle Tools

Beauty Brand Mane repurposing hair styling tools can also work collectively with PACT to adopt your unnecessary heat-hair tools, whether they work or not. Hair styling tools in good working condition will be properly disinfected and transported through Project Glimmer, an organization dedicated to helping women and girls with gender inequality, for distribution to young women. Ineffective hair styling tools will be taken apart and processed for proper recycling. As long as you use your own box, the tag will be prepaid by Mane.

shaver

Of course, most disposable razors yes Plastics and razors yes Metal. Both materials are recyclable, but mixed materials such as bar disposable razors are recyclable. Fortunately, Terracycle has a free recycling program for ordinary shaving brands like Gillette and Venus, from handles to blades to bags of replacements. Consider keeping a separate container to safely hold used razors for months, then send them back and take them apart and reclaim them. If people grab this, just think about the dents of the disposable razor that can be invested in each year.

toothbrush

The number of toothbrushes thrown away every year is just as serious. Around the National Geographic Clock One billion plastic toothbrushes It eventually appears in landfills every year, and toothpaste tubes are a similar story. If you use Colgate, arms and hammer, or Tom's with Maine toothbrushes, tubes, hats, etc., there is a free mailing Terracycle plan.

For old toothbrushes, electric toothbrush replacement heads, used floss and toothpaste tubes from Crest, Oral-B or Fixodent, you can collect and mail free of charge through Oral-B's direct recycling program.