Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to contribute to saving our planet’s environment? You can do so and probably don’t even know it. It’s the smaller things we do that contribute to some of the biggest results in life. And for you, starting with a little recycling can mean a whole lot.

Do you have any old, used up batteries lying around? If so, then you could be helping our environment by recycling them. How? Because batteries are made up of several harmful chemicals and toxins that are harmful to the soil. If not properly disposed of, they could cause serious damage to our environment, and not to mention the food we grow and eat from that soil.

Yes, batteries are important and play a major role in our everyday lifestyles. So we can’t necessarily do away with them altogether. However, if we can just manage to keep them from corroding our land’s soil, then we would be one step closer toward a cleaner environment and healthier food.

Did you know that recycling your old, used batteries is free? That’s right! There is such a thing as free battery recycling. There are many companies out there that would allow you to deposit your old used batteries with them for free. Oftentimes, the companies that you buy your batteries from, especially those that are found online, will encourage you to send your batteries back to them once they’re no longer usable for you. At that point, they’ll take them and either recycle them for the metal, or if it’s a rechargeable battery, they’ll simply recharge it and sell it again.

What Kinds of Batteries Can I Recycle for Free?

Free battery recycling covers all types of batteries. You can typically recycle alkaline batteries, lithium batteries, rechargeable batteries, household batteries, cell phone batteries, and much more. You could even recycle your car battery. How and where your battery is recycled, however, will depend on the type of battery itself. Rechargeable batteries are the most commonly recycled batteries, and finding a drop-off location for these types of batteries is typically much easier than the rest. To find the closest rechargeable battery drop-off location to you, please feel free to check out http://www.call2recycle.org/locator/.

Have More Junk to Dump?

If you are in need of any further assistance where free battery recycling, garbage disposal, garbage removal, or anything else for that matter, is concerned, then please do not hesitate to contact us. The TalkLocal team can assist you with locating a professional for whatever questions or needs you might have.

It’s been a year since you bought your new TV, but the old one is still sitting in your garage, collecting dust. You do want to deal with it, but you are always pulled up short by one basic question – how do I get rid of my old TV? With tighter environmental regulations being put in place at landfills across the country, simply dumping your old TV in the trash is no longer an option. Many states are beginning to offer electronic recycling programs, but these are in their infancy and might not be up and running in your area yet.

So when you ask yourself the question, ”How do I get rid of my old TV?” it might not seem at first that there is a good answer. However, with a little bit of Internet digging, you will find a lot of options, some of which might surprise you.

Local Recycling Option

Check with your local waste management and recycling facilities to determine which ones will recycle your old TV. Some facilities might pay you for your used TV, but most will not. Some companies might even charge a fee for their recycling services. However, this is a good option because you can be pretty sure that your old TV is actually being recycled, rather than being sold for parts in developing nations.

Recycling Companies

There are many private companies, most of which operate online, who will recycle your old electronics for cash. Different companies offer to recycle different pieces of equipment, so if you choose this option, make sure that the company you are working with will recycle your TV.

Municipal Hazardous Waste Pick-up Days

Most municipal authorities offer residents set days in the year when they will take away your used electronics to be recycled at no extra charge. Just check with your local waste management company to find out if your town or city provides this service.

Big Retailers and Manufacturers

Sometimes large companies such as Big Buy will accept your old TV and other electronics for recycling. Some electronics manufacturers also offer customers the same service. All it takes is a simple online search for your item’s manufacturer to find out if this option will work for you.

Electronic Takeback Coalition

This is a website dedicated to the recycling of old electronic goods. It lists the electronic recycling laws by state and is an invaluable resource if you find yourself saying, “How do I get rid of my old TV?”

If you need help connecting with a waste management company in your area, feel free to check out TalkLocal’s free referral service. We will connect you to waste management and recycling professionals in your area at no extra charge.

Are you using alkaline batteries to power some of the household items lying around your home? Once a battery has been used and is no longer providing the power you need from it, what do you do with it? Most people’s immediate reaction is to take it out and throw it away. However, due to many of the dangerous chemicals found inside Alkaline batteries, experts have said that you should not do that. Well, in that case, you might be wondering, if you shouldn’t throw them away, then what should you do with them? Should you recycle them? Can alkaline batteries be recycled? Yes, in fact, they can.

In case you weren’t aware, at one point, alkaline batteries were made with mercury in them, which is very harmful to the environment. This substance is so harmful that the government stepped in and banned the sale of all batteries containing mercury. Now, some people have said that it is okay to discard alkaline batteries with the rest of your trash since this governmental regulation was put into place. Others disagree.

Even if it is now safe to discard your batteries along with your normal household garbage, it is still a good idea to recycle your batteries. Alkaline batteries, along with other battery types, are comprised of metal. This metal can be recycled and reused later for another purpose, which still contributes to a greener environment. So if you’d like to contribute to your environment, then you should still recycle your batteries anyway.

How and Where Can Alkaline Batteries Be Recycled?

You cannot take your batteries to ordinary recycling centers like you would paper, plastic, etc. However, there are specially developed battery recycling depots or centers that you can take them to. To find a battery recycling center near you, feel free to visit http://earth911.com/recycling/single-use-batteries/. If your batteries are rechargeable, then you may even be able to take them back to the retail store you bought them from, such as Walmart, Target, Radio Shack, etc.

Need Professional Assistance?

TalkLocal can help! We specialize in locating industry-specific professionals and connecting them with consumers and businesses within minutes. Give us a try today!

The world of modern technology is incredibly fast paced, with the twin demons of built-in obsolescence and ever-evolving innovations rendering most of our gadgets outdated before they’re even a few years old. In houses and storage rooms across the country, old tablets, obsolete cell phones, and long-dead computers are taking up space and gathering dust. You know it’s time to get rid of them, but finding a good way to do it is a bit difficult.

In the past, people thought nothing of throwing their old electronics in the trash, but our more sophisticated understanding of the environment has made this an unviable method of disposal. However, there are other options available, especially if you look on the Internet for where to recycle electronics for cash.

Look Online

There are many online businesses that will buy your used electronics for cash, and if you’re looking for where to recycle electronics for cash, this is probably the best way to go. Just make sure that you have chosen a company that will deal with your particular item. For instance, some companies only handle cell phones, while others handle a wide range of electronic goods.

It is also important to note that not all of these cash for electronics companies will pay you for non-functional items. However, they typically handle your shipping costs and will state their terms of acceptance and payment clearly.

Local Options?

Another option when looking for where to recycle electronics for cash is to consider your local waste management and recycling facilities. This will take a little more research on your part, as you will need to figure out which facilities in your area will accept used electronics and which, if any, will pay you. Fair warning – a lot of them won’t pay you a dime, but you might be pleasantly surprised, so it is certainly worth a try. Your city Public Utilities Department website and the websites of local garbage removal companies are good places to start.

At a Store

You can also try recycling your old electronics at the store where you originally bought them. Some of the bigger retail stores are trying to bring their operational processes in line with new, environmentally sensitive standards. They might have a recycling program available to their customers, although they might not pay you in cash for your used goods.

While online businesses that specialize in recycling electronics are the best option, the other choices are viable as well. They might not offer you a large cash payout, but they do allow you to safely dispose of your used electronics, which is frankly priceless in terms of our environmental health.

Need to Get Rid of Old Junk?

If you need help finding a recycling facility near you that accepts old electronics, check out the experts at TalkLocal. We can help you find the resources you need in your area at no extra charge – it’s all part of our free referral program.

For many of the household items we have in our homes – radios, telephones, remote controls, power tools, and the like – we rely heavily on batteries to use them. But what about the heavier equipment, such as our vehicles? Do we not rely heavily on them as well? The batteries in our cars are known as lead acid batteries. They are an intricate part of our everyday lives, no doubt. However, once the power has run out and we can no longer use them, we then have the responsibility of ensuring that they are properly disposed of.

Lead Acid Batteries

There are multiple chemicals and heavy metals that are used in the creation of these batteries, which play a big part in causing the battery to produce power. However, these materials are extremely toxic to both the land and the air. Therefore, it is wise to dispose of them by recycling, rather than to simply throw them into the garbage, where they can cause harm to the environment.

Lead acid battery recycling is the most common form of battery recycling there is. Experts say that at least 96% of every lead acid battery used is, in fact, recycled. Most states have created laws that require any stores that are selling these types of batteries to offer free collection of them once they’ve been used. And typically what the store will do with these types of batteries once they’ve been re-collected is send them off to be broken down by a machine that will separate the battery parts into plastic, lead, and acid. Once separated, the materials will then be sent off to their corresponding manufacturers for further processing and reuse.

So How Do You Recycle Your Lead Acid Battery?

The most common type of lead acid battery is your car battery. Most automobile retailers will ask you to bring in your old car battery before you buy your new one. In fact, many of them will actually credit the sale of your new battery for recycling your old lead acid car battery with them. So as you can see, lead acid battery recycling is not difficult at all. Just take the battery back to where you got it from, and they should gladly take it off your hands for safe disposal.

Do you have any other questions or concerns regarding lead acid battery recycling or garbage removal? If so, our team can help. TalkLocal may be able to assist you with locating a high-quality professional to answer your questions or concerns. Call today to learn more about how we can help.

Just think about how many gadgets and other electronics you have in your home that require batteries. Thus is the case for most households, making the number of batteries that are thrown into the garbage and into local landfills an astronomical figure. This might lead many to contemplate the environmental problems caused by disposal of batteries. If more people learned of the possible hazards this poses, they might more carefully contemplate how they go about disposing of batteries.

Which Batteries Can Be Thrown In The Trash?

The environmental problems caused by disposal of batteries hinges on the type of battery. It certainly does not hurt to recycle all of your batteries, but these days, more traditional batteries (A, AA, AAA and D-Cell) contain far fewer harmful chemicals and toxins than the batteries of old. If you have old batteries, make sure you recycle them to cut down on the environmental impact.

Rechargeable batteries and car batteries do, however, contain significant chemicals and must be disposed of with care. It is best to recycle them.

What Effect Do Batteries Have On The Environment?

By throwing batteries in the trash and into local landfills, you are essentially introducing such harmful chemicals as lead, lithium, cadmium, and mercury to nature. These substances and pose serious health issues to both humans and animals.

Air Pollution

Like all other garbage, batteries undergo a photochemical reaction as they decompose in landfills. This reaction causes gas emissions. Such harmful chemicals can produce O-Zone via the photochemical reaction, which can contribute to the greenhouse effect here on earth.

Water Pollution

The harmful chemicals found in batteries can also run off into local water supplies. Not only is this dangerous to the people who drink from the supply, but the chemicals can kill both plants and animals, putting the ecosystems of streams, rivers and lakes in serious jeopardy.

Find A Recycling Service

If these environmental problems caused by disposal of batteries have made you think twice, you can easily find professionals who will help you recycle your old or used batteries. Simply type the necessary information into TalkLocal, and we’ll connect you with one immediately.

You may be one of the thousands of people wondering: Can I recycle broken glass? After all, glass can be recycled over and over.

Nearly 25 percent of all glass containers that are produced in the United States are made from at least 25 percent recycled materials. Not only does recycling glass help stop it from piling up in landfills, it also helps the environment, because it takes 75 percent less energy to use recycled glass to make new containers than to make them from new glass.

Here are the types of glass that can be recycled.

Clear Glass

Clear glass can be recycled into bottles, jars, and other containers. It is the popular choice of food manufacturers because it is so versatile. Most recycling centers are happy to take your unwanted, clear glass.

Brown Glass

Brown glass is made when manufacturers add certain chemicals to molten glass. The chemicals cause a reaction which turns the glass brown. Brown glass is used for many types of beers and soda bottles and is usually accepted by recycling centers.

Green Glass

Green glass containers are less common, but can still be recycled. The shade of the green glass can vary, and many recycling centers are glad to accept it. Green glass is made by adding iron and other components to the glass as it is being made. Less than 7 percent of all the glass in the United States is green.

It is important to recycle as many items as possible. The world’s landfills are already overflowing, and it can take a glass bottle up to a million years to decompose.

While some recycling centers will only accept certain glass colors, you should check different ones to see what they accept. When you ask yourself: Can I recycle broken glass? It doesn’t have to be with a recycling center. Perhaps you can recycle glass at home.

There are numerous crafts and hobbies that will allow you to use recycled glass in a creative way. Save the environment and make something special.

Consult A Garbage Removal Service

Waste management services in your area can answer your questions about recycling. You can talk to someone on the phone in a matter of minutes by using TalkLocal. Try out our free service and we’ll get you in touch with people who have answers.

Most of us love our cell phones. Although they were initially created as a way to keep in touch and have emergency contact on the go, cell phones have become so much more. Now, they’re also our calendar, email inbox, social network, reading device, music player, GPS, and pretty much anything else you need them to be.

Oftentimes, when a newer, cooler device comes out, we want to upgrade and see what more we can do — but then what do we do with our old one? If you want to recycle cell phones for cash, you can. You just need to know how.

How to recycle cell phones for cash:

Ask your cell phone carrier. Many will pay you or remove a percentage from your new phone purchase if you recycle your old phone through them. Although you won’t be getting back 100 percent of what you paid for it, you’ll be getting back a good amount and saving money on the new phone you were buying anyway.

Sell it online. If your phone still works fine, you can sell it to someone looking to get a nicer phone for a cheaper price. To successfully sell a phone online, you want to list the specs of the device, the date you bought it, how much you used it, the battery life information, memory information, what you originally paid, and an explanation of your depreciation value. If you thoroughly explain why your price is fair, it can’t be easily argued down. Make sure you also have the means of shipping it.

Sell it for parts. Some electronic or cell phone repair businesses will buy your old phone so they can use the spare screen, back, battery, hardware, etc. Although this is a rather unconventional way to recycle cell phones for cash, it still is a viable option.

Getting More Information

Getting rid of your cell phone is just one step before you get an even better one. For help recycling or picking out the best phone for you, TalkLocal can connect you with the professionals in your area who have the answers you need. We will get you on the phone with three quality service professionals so you can pick the best one.

Some especially thrifty individuals simply cannot stomach the idea of hiring a garbage collection service to remove their waste for a monthly fee. This is especially true when you can just as easily bring your own garbage down to the city dump. You can always compost some of your waste, too.

So, this do-it-yourself method is superior, right?

Well, not necessarily. There is still a cost of removing your own garbage, you just might not notice it. These costs come in a variety of forms. It is your job to determine which is a better value for you — hiring someone to haul your trash away or doing it yourself.

Gas Money

The money for fuel should figure into the cost of removing your own garbage. You will have to get in your car and drive to your area’s designated dump site. In larger cities or counties, this could be a longer drive. Plus, you can plan on making weekly trips so that your garbage doesn’t pile up.

In today’s economic climate, gas is not cheap, which only makes this expense greater.

Your Time

People always forget to place a value on their time when they should. Your time equals money, and you will be spending plenty of time driving your trash down to the dump and sorting it accordingly.

When you enlist the help of a garbage collection service, all you have to do is roll the trash bin out to the curb and you’re done. This saves you a lot of time and, in turn, money.

Cleaning / Deodorizing

We don’t have to tell you that trash does not smell pleasant. Unless you have an open bed pickup truck, that trash has to be in the vehicle with you as you transport it to the dump. Suffering through the nasty smells that are left behind are a non-monetary cost of removing your own garbage. However, if you find you have to purchase items to freshen the smell in your car, that will cost money.

So, You Want Someone To Pick Up Your Trash After All?

As you can see, removing your own garbage isn’t automatically the better option. If you need someone to remove your trash, TalkLocal can connect you directly with a local company for the job. Visit our website to try our free service today.

Isn’t it a shame to see all the spoiled food in your refrigerator go to waste? You probably feel bad enough for not eating those tasty leftovers, so, instead of throwing them in the garbage, you might consider home food composting.

This is an effective way of limiting waste in local landfills, while taking a more eco-friendly approach to everyday living. Home food composting is easy and can benefit both you and the environment. If you are interested in engaging in this increasingly popular activity, here is some information.

Know Your Locality’s Stance On Food Composting

You might not want to gather together a compost pile before you consider local laws. Some areas forbid composting food because they believe it to be unsanitary, citing that it attracts various animals or bugs. Other areas are very much accepting of home food composting, and will even provide curbside service. Check with local resources to find out what the laws are in your area.

How To Store Food Compost

Compost can be stored in a number of ways. The following are a few:

– Compost Pail: This is a way to keep food compost in the house before dumping it into a bucket or compost pile. Some companies offer airtight pails specifically for this purpose.

– Compost Buckets: You can throw all of your food waste into a large bucket and let the food decompose. It always helps to add in dirt, leaves, mulch, or other natural substances to speed up the decomposition process.

– Compost Pile: Board up an area of the yard and stack your food compost there until it breaks down.

Some Foods You Can Compost:

– Fruits and vegetables

– Grains

– Egg shells

– Coffee grounds and filters

– Expired boxed foods

Foods To Avoid Composting

– Meat or meat byproduct

– Fish

– Dairy products

– Greases and oils

Find A Resource On Home Food Composting

There are a number of garbage removal experts who can help you clear away waste that you do not compost. When you need to get a hold of them, try using TalkLocal. We will connect with someone who can help you right away.