Recycling 102
By MAGGIE O'NEILL
01/10/08

We all know how to get rid of our newspapers and plastic bottles, but what about that old cell phone or dead battery? To put unusual items to good use, read on

So, you're recycle-crazy and you're driving your family nuts stock-piling old cell phones, dead batteries and printer cartridges as you wait for an opportunity to unload.

Sometimes, the opportunities come few and far between. After all, it's not like you can step outside and drop your old cell phone in a recycling bin and drag the bin to the curb. No, these items require effort.

You have to know where to take these quirky items and, more importantly, have them with you, say, when you happen to be at Best Buy.

Who knew that recycling could take so much advance planning?

To make it easier, here is a list of locations to help with your endeavors. This list is not a be-all and end-all; it's just a start. There are plenty of places that recycle batteries and printer cartridges and many other places that will take household items that you no longer want to use. But sometimes you need that ever-important component to begin -- a location.

Alkaline and Rechargeable Batteries

Go to Batteries Plus at 4898 S. Virginia St., to recycle any and all of your batteries.

"We'll take all kinds of batteries," said Bart Long, a sales associate. "Cell phone batteries, car batteries, anything with a rechargeable battery, we'll take it."

The store also takes alkaline batteries. All are sent to proper recycling locations, he said.

If you're in Carson City, visit the Batteries Plus at 1400 S. Carson St. The number for both stores is 884-0566.

Cell Phones

You can take old cell phones to the Best Buy at 5575 S. Virginia St. A recycling bin is near the front entrance. You can also drop off ink cartridges and rechargeable batteries.

"The bin has been there a couple of years," said Leon Kauffmann, Best Buy assistant manager.

The cell phones are sent out to a third party for refurbishing or recycling, he said. Phone: 448-9797.

Christmas Trees

You can recycle your trees, which will be chipped into mulch, through Sunday at Bartley Ranch Regional Park, 6000 Bartley Ranch Road; Rancho San Rafael Park, 1595 N. Sierra St.; and Shadow Mountain Sports Complex, 3300 Sparks Blvd., Sparks. Collection sites are open daily 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and a $3 donation is requested to support this Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful program. Phone: 851-5185.

CFLs

This is one item that I could not find a recycling site for locally, but there is promise in the future.

A spokesman for Waste Management said the company is considering installing recycling bins for compact fluorescent light bulbs, the ones used in the home, at the local drop-off stations in Reno and Stead in the future.

Sierra Pacific is hoping to start a program within the next few months in which people can take their CFLs to a drop-off container at a specific Sierra Pacific site.

"I know there's a lot of people working on solutions on a broad-based and wide effort, which is something that is not solid and cohesive yet, which is why we decided to start our own program," said John Hargrove, a Sierra Pacific program manager.

He said Sierra Pacific will ship the CFLs off to a Phoenix site for recycling. Sierra Pacific also is looking into setting up a program with retailers to have recycling sites at their centers.

Oil, gas and fuels

Take these items to Reno Drain Oil Service, 11970 Interstate 80 East. The business is at Exit 23 on the north side of the freeway. Reno Drain Oil Service will take kerosene, diesel and petroleum oil, as well as antifreeze and transmission fluid. The business does not take brake fluid, paint, paint thinners or cleaning solvents. Phone: 342-0351.

Old eyeglasses

The Reno Hosts Lions Club has boxes at various optical locations throughout the region for people to drop off old glasses. Call before you go. One site with a box is the optical department at the Wal-Mart at 4855 Kietzke Lane. Phone: 827-6616.

The box is "very visible" at the front of the store, said Irene Trible, an apprentice optician, who estimates that two to four pair of glasses are dropped off every day.

"What happens is the glasses go to people in a third (world) county where they don't have money to purchase glasses," she said. "They are cleaned, and the prescription is checked and the Lions give people the glasses."

Packing Peanuts

Take these annoying and pervasive little peanuts to one of the Mail Boxes, Etc., stores at 59 Damonte Ranch Parkway, Suite B; 10580 N. McCarran Blvd., Suite 115; or 4790 Caughlin Parkway. Phones: 852-3777, 746-3988 and 826-2800 respectively.

"All they have to do is bring the peanuts right to our store," said Bill Stanton, owner of the Caughlin Parkway store.

"With the way the landfills are today, there's so much waste out there," he said. "We actually recycle boxes at times. We have people who need them for moving, and if we have enough of them, we'll save them and give them to them."

In addition to packing peanuts and boxes, Stanton will also take bubble wrap and white Styrofoam packing insulation at his Caughlin Parkway store. Call the other stores to find out specifically what they take.

"We'll try and get rid of or reuse whatever people bring in," he said. "The peanuts we'll always reuse. We recycle as much as we can in the store."

Printer Cartridges

Many schools in the Washoe County School District collect printer cartridges and turn them in for cash. Some include:
Allen Elementary: 5155 McGuffy Road, Sun Valley. Phone: 674-4430.
Dodson Elementary: 4355 Houston Drive. Phone: 689-2530.
Silver Lake Elementary: 8719 Red Baron Blvd. Phone: 677-5400.
Whitehead Elementary: 3570 Waterfall Drive, Sparks. Phone: 626-5200.

This is not a complete list. To see if your local school participates, give the receptionist at the school a call. You can find phone numbers to Washoe County schools on the district's Web site at www.washoe.k12.nv.us

Tile, Doorknobs, Doors, Light Fixtures, etc.

Take your household construction items in good condition to the Truckee Meadows Habitat for Humanity Discount Supply Store, 992 Spice Island Drive, Sparks. The discount supply store offers building materials at a discounted price. Phone: 323-5511.

"We take any kind of materials that are nonliquid or nonchemical," said Christine Price, executive director.

Appliances new within the past two years can be donated. The discount store also will take cabinet hardware, windows, tile or anything that has been upgraded.

"A lot of do-it-yourselfers do their own tile projects and end up with half a box left," Price said. "It all gets repurposed."

Homeowners, artists and teachers all shop at the store. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.

Other

You can find a place to take almost any item in your home by donating it to a thrift store or a donation center with a specific cause, such as the Committee to Aid Abused Women, which takes women's and children's clothing and small household appliances.

If you don't actually want to leave your home to donate something, make an offer for the item on RenoFreecycle (find it by going online to www.freecycle.org). People interested in your offer will respond to your e-mail and you decide who to give it to. You supply your address, and if you're concerned about a stranger coming to your door, you can put the item on your porch and never see the person face-to-face.

I've successfully given away nonworking items, such as blow dryers, even when fully disclosing their condition.

The free service is an easy way to rid yourself of large household items that you don't want to haul away. If you have partial gallons of paint you'd like someone to use, you'll likely find a taker here. Most reuse groups, such as the Habitat store, don't take paint because it's considered toxic.