5 Ways to Recycle More

With Earth Day and spring cleaning on our minds, here are tips for recycling better and smarter --  especially if you want to keep your trash from getting sucked into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that scary island of plastics and sludge floating in the Pacific Ocean.

1. At your apartment complex

Do you live in an apartment building with six or more units? Your landlord is required by law to provide you with recycling bins. The Atlanta City Council signed this law into effect in November 2007. These bins make recycling super easy. You don't have to worry about sorting because everything can be dumped in together: glass bottles and jars; aluminum, steel and aerosol cans; all plastics numbered 1 to 7; and paper, including junk mail. More information is available on the city website. Or call Mary Harrington, Recycling Program Manager, at 404-865-8540. Property owners can download a toolkit for multi-family buildings here.

2. Packaging

Even the items most people consider "garbage" are actually recyclable. Terracycle collects packaging, such as candy wrappers, Capri Sun juice pouches and mascara tubes, and turns them into cool products, from bags to benches. Participants join a "brigade" and then collect points or cash for their donations.

3. Wine and champagne corks

Got a pile of corks collecting dust in the corner of the kitchen? Yemm & Hart Green Materials collects corks for their recycled products. The corks have to be real, not plastic. Mail them to Wine Cork Recycling/Yemm & Hart Ltd., 425 North Chamber Drive, Fredericktown, Mo. 63645.

4. E-scrap

Every third Saturday of the month, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Keep Atlanta Beautiful collects used electronics in the parking lot on 8th Street across from Grady High School between Charles Allen Drive and Monroe Drive. The next collection is May 21. Cell phones, televisions, computers, vacuum cleaners, household batteries, digital cameras and much more can be dropped off. For more information, contact Peggy Denby at 404-249-5853.

5. Clothing and household items

Consider donating old furniture, appliances, clothing and other household supplies to Refugee Resettlement & Immigration Services of Atlanta, which helps refugees who arrive empty-handed from Burma, Haiti and elsewhere start new lives here. They even accept used cars, which can get you a nice tax deduction.