Recycling is good, reuse is better. Before tossing things out, see if someone else can use them. Post on Freecycle or Craigslist for free and see if your trash is someone else's treasure.
Here's an example. We take a lot of prescription medications in our house (even the dogs) and I always removed labels, washed, and saved bottles for our own reuse. When cleaning the cellar recently I found 2 bags of bottles - more than we would ever use. Before putting them in our recycling bin, I posted them for free on Craigslist just on the off-chance someone would want them. In an hour there were 4 replies! The first 2 people came for them, the other 2 asked me to save their email addresses and contact them when I had more. So not only did I find a home for clutter from my house, I can continue my habit of saving the bottles and someone will use them.
NOTE: Pharmacies cannot reuse the bottles because of the possibility of medications having leached into the plastic, so do not reuse them for food products (spices and the like). The folks who took mine were planning to use them for beads and for electronic parts.
Source: Inspired by a craigslist post by someone wanting plastic peanut butter jars.
By Soup-Lady from near Boston, MA
This page contains the following solutions.
If you can't find an item on ebay, or can't afford to bid on ebay for the item, try searching the yahoo groups in the appropriate category for the item you are looking for; i.e. toy collectors groups, etc.
There is an online Recycling group here in the Manatee County area of Florida. If you've got more "stuff" than you know what to do with this is the place!
My husband became disabled in 1985 and then I became disabled in 2005. So we have had to think of ways to cut back and save money. I recently found out about some groups on Yahoo that have helped us considerable.
I belong to several recycling groups in my community. After you join, you write your own postings with items that are either "Want", "Need" or "Offer", but ALL items must be for FREE.
