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So the weather has gotten much warmer here in Cleveland over the past week or two.  This makes me want to do some serious cleaning, mostly cleaning out.  I wanted to highlight here what I’ve been doing over this past weekend pertaining to my spring cleaning. 

1. Donated my old computer – I got a new laptop a few months ago and finally got rid of my old desktop.  I did this as part of April being Cuyahoga County’s Computer Round-up month.  I loaded my computer (and any spare parts I could find that I don’t need any more) into my trunk.  The way they had it setup was so nice.  I drove into this building, popped my trunk and two guys came right over and unloaded my trunk for me and put the parts in their organized piles.  Cuyahoga County will take a look at my equipment, refurbish what they can and donate it to local schools.
2. Recycled magazines – We don’t get many magazines, but the one we love is The Family Handyman.  These accumulate over time in the bathroom.  So I had my husband go through these and get rid of as many as he could part with.  Unfortunately magazines aren’t part of our curbside recycling.  However, there are tons of bins throughout the town to put all kinds of paper into.  So while I was running over to donate the computer, I stopped at a bin and recycled all the magazines.
3. Clothing donations – I went through my closet and dresser and purged a lot of clothes.  I had sweaters in there that I haven’t worn in years.  No sense in having it clutter my closet if I’m not going to wear it.  Between the clothes and some blankets in the guest bedroom closet, I filled 2 garbage bags full.  There are also tons of bins around the city (just like for paper and magazine recycling) where the bags will get dumped into and the clothes will go towards helping people that need them. 

Getting rid of these items has really helped get my house cleaned up.  I always feel better when I come home to a clean house.

So the other day we needed more ink for our printer.  Now I would typically forgo the printing all together but my husband works from home and needs to print and mail things for work, like expense reports and receipts. Before running out and buying a new ink cartridge, he asked me if there was something special he should be doing with the ink cartridge.  Things like if the cartridge is refillable or if he could/how to recycle the cartridge.  I was both surprised and please that he asked this.

Turns out we didn’t have a refillable cartridge, so he took the dried out cartridge to Staples for recycling and picked up a new one.  Now if you have a Staples card, I do believe you get a $3 coupon (to perhaps apply to the new cartridge).  Being good to the environment and saving money, you can’t beat that.  Next time you run out of ink, remember to take it with you to the store for recycling.

So I finally decided to do something with the two old bikes that have been sitting in my garage for the past 5 years! They needed a bit of work (that I wasn’t willing to do) but I didn’t want to just throw them out.  Now I know biking places is more green than driving my car, but I just haven’t gotten into it yet.  I would also get discouraged with the current bikes with the amount of work that needed done on them.  So getting back to the point, what do to do with the old bikes?

I found this great organization called Ohio City Bicycle Co-op (OCBC).  They are a non-profit with the purpose of increasing bicycle use.  They teach both adults and children safety and repair classes and get people excited about biking.  They encourage bicycling as a mode of transportation (very green!) and add a social aspect with having things like a social ride every Saturday.

If you are into biking and live in the Cleveland area, check them out.  If you don’t live in the Cleveland area, check around. There might be a similar group where you live, or start one!  However, if you are like me and just have old bicycles and equipment that isn’t being used (maybe that bike your kids have grown out of), go ahead and donate them. 

What are they going to do with the bikes I donated?  They are going to refurbish them (that work I didn’t want to do). Then either will be earned by volunteers or sold or traded to support their cause. I almost forgot, they even gave me a tax donation form.

Next week is the start of April, and in Cuyahoga County, it is also the start of Recycle Your Computer Month.  Cuyahoga County’s Solid Waste District has claimed April for residents to “recycle” all your old computer equipment.  Now I put that in quotes because what they are doing is really cool.  They will first look at your computer equipment and see if they can refurbish it, and if they can, it will be fixed up and donated to a school.  I feel very good about that.  Additionally, it can be any kind of computer equipment, including accessories like keyboards, printers, even cell phones. 

Just before I started my blog, I replaced my old desktop with a brand new laptop.  Now this has helped me a number of ways with my new venture into the world of green, but I’ve been holding on to my old computer so that I can make sure I get rid of it properly.  This is my perfect opportunity.

If cleaning out your house for a better place to live, making someone else’s life better through donation, and saving the planet wasn’t enough, this is even considered a tax deductable donation.  You can get a receipt simply by calling the Solid Waste District.

Now I am aware that not everyone lives in Cuyahoga County.  So I did a quick check on Maricopa County (where my parents live).  Maricopa County’s Solid Waste District is not doing this, but I did find a different resource in Arizona.  It is called AZ StRUT and their 8th Annual Computer Recycle Day is April 19th.  Again, they refurbish the equipment and donate it mostly to schools.

So along with my old desktop, I’m starting a box of old computer equipment lying around the house.   On April 12th I will be going to the Parma drop-off site to recycle (donate) all my unused computer equipment.  If you can’t make it in April, many of the locations do have year round drop-off, but why wait. 

So this weekend my parents will be visiting all the family back here in Ohio, paired with my sweet little niece (4 months old), I need to charge my batteries for my camera.  I tend to use a lot of batteries with my camera (I tend to think of myself as an amateur photographer). So naturally I use rechargeables to save money on batteries.  As I pondered this, why not use rechargeable batteries for everything. I know several people that do this already.

Batteries contain a chemical called Cadmium.  While batteries are safe while in use, they are not so safe if they are just thrown away.  If this chemical leaks, it can have numerous negative effects including lung and kidney disease.  This is why batteries need to be recycled appropriately.  If you don’t know where you can recycle these, go to Earth911.org and do a search with your zip code.

Next time I need batteries, I’m going to buy the rechargeable kind for whatever size battery I need.  I really mean any kind of battery, for whatever, like the remote control, playstation (or WII) controller, flashlights, radios, alarm clock, mp3 player, handheld games, the list goes on. This should really cut back on the amount of batteries I need to buy and recycle.