Craigslist = BFF

Want to get rid of a door? Or maybe some old pillow stuffing? How about a kitchenaid mixer that's been around since the 40s? I may be exaggerating just a bit with the above title, but I do think Craigslist can be handy. In the past year I have made close to $700 just trying to get rid of stuff that's been sitting around our house for ages. Not bad eh? I've posted everything from books, to cloth diapers, to much larger items such as a stroller and the kitchenaid mixer mentioned above. It's amazing what people will take. While I'm mentioning craigslist, I may as well plug my latest item "for sale", . . . does anybody want this stinky baby butt? It poops and smells a whole lot!



Just kidding Serafin, Mommy loves you no matter how much aroma comes from that big old diaper butt of yours!

"Bye bye VHS tapes, I hope you become something new and exciting!"

Ok, so I'm really starting to see the difference between certain recycling facilities. In an attempt to get rid of two boxes of old VHS tapes I made a bunch of calls and was referred to this place by Waste Management. This facility, which shall remain nameless, was in East Oakland, and although they seemed to be doing their job, I wasn't very impressed-- I should have taken the hint when their web-link popped up a warning for Malware on my computer.

That morning, I was all excited to learn about a new place. I packed the car full with the VHS tapes and some other items that hadn't made it out of the house during the first round of E-cycling. First of all, to put a damper on the experience, I got totally lost going down there, and for all of you Bay Area natives, you know East Oakland isn't the best place to get lost in. I ended up parking the car at International and 92nd and calling the hubby to map it out for me and give me directions. Finally, after 45 minutes of driving around, I made it, but admittedly, was kind of cranky at that point, nothing to do with them, but more due to the fact that my butt was sore from all that driving.

Anyway, back to the story, this was another lot, but 10 times bigger than the last, and for good reason, they recycle so much more; plastics, cardboard, metals, . . . I found myself wondering if maybe this is where my recycled goods went to when they get thrown in the bin at our house. There was a huge fork driving around the lot, lifting pallets around, I'm sure there was a method to the madness, but it all looked like a big mess to me, which made me kind of uncomfortable at the thought of leaving my stuff there. There did appear to be some organization of cardboard and plastics, however most of it appeared to look like one huge junk yard, almost like a landfill, everything mixed in with eachother! Do they really go through and organize all that stuff? Unfortunately, although I brought my camera, it was a bit drizzly out and the guy that I spoke to didn't speak very good English, so I felt kind of awkward making too much conversation with him, plus, I had Serafin in the car and didn't want to subject her to the rain by wandering around and taking photos.

After a brief interaction with him, however, I did learn that the "goods" do get organized and then get shipped over-seas, probably to somewhere in Asia, an assumption I am making considering the company has Chinese characters all over there website, again, that's just an assumption. So that was about all I managed to get out of the guy. He did help me unload the car which was nice because one of the boxes must have weighed about 50 pounds. Although I gave them the VHS tapes, I kept the other stuff. I will be going back to the ACCRC for that, I would prefer to do my best to keep my trash in California.

E-Cyling Bonanza!

So Gary and I have been trying to de-clutter our house (a long and slow process!). We finally managed to gather our e-waste together for our first trip to the Alameda County Computer Resource Center (ACCRC). Wooo whoo! The ACCRC is an organization that recycles most e-waste, if it can be plugged in, then there is a good chance that they will take it. Their fees are minimal, and they pride themselves on recycling all of the material locally. If they can't fix it, they take it apart and send bits and pieces to local refineries or recycling centers. They even take care to recycle any precious metals such as copper, which is sent to a copper smelter. So cool!

It's so exciting when you find a place that will take your "junk" and not just throw it in the landfill, but instead, find a way to re-use it! I had been looking for a place that recycled more than just computers and TVs, we had stuff like speakers, phones, wires, a fax machine, and computer printer. There is still more, but this was a start! It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate over the years.




When I got there, there were two men sitting in a cluttered shipping crate, which seemed to be a make-shift office. They appeared to be hard at work, when one man got up and came to help me unload.



As he took things out of my car he began to put sort them into piles.



Items are then further sorted and placed on pallets to be taken elsewhere. Check out all the TVs and Printers waiting to go, . . . and NOT to be dumped in our landfills!




So for all of that, I payed a total of $11, that's really not a lot, and I really hope people see the worth in this type of thing. In my research, I did not find one place that recycled for free, which is unfortunate, because I'm sure this would be a deterrent for some--"Why spend spend time and money to take my trash somewhere when I can just throw it in my garbage for free?" To all those that feel that way, and probably none of you are reading my blog, it IS worth the time and money! We need to do what we can to help sustain our world instead of deplete it! Do it for your grandchildren! Ok, sorry, rant over!

To learn more about the ACCRC check out their website at www.accrc.org/

Peace, . .