Reuse and Recycle Information

Anything you do that can reduce landfill is a good thing to do
Anything you do that can reduce pollution is a good thing to do

BestBuy and Staples offer recycling service though they do not accept hard drives (you need to take the hard drive out first, or ask them to remove it for you). Check a store near you.
www.greendisk.com recycles any technotrash including hard drives.
If your gadgets are still functioning, www.recycles.com can match your offer with someone who can make good use of it.

Surely you can donate usable shoes to a thrift store or Salvation Army;
You can mail running shoes that are still in good shape to www.shoe4africa.org (you need to mail them directly to Kenya);
If your sneakers or running shoes are truly not wearable, drop them off at a recycle site. A list can be found at www.nikereuseashoe.com.
If your leather boots or shoes start to have holes, bring them to a shoe repair place, or cut up the leather for crafts, making wallets and baby booties.

Small holes can be patched up using scrapes from another used jeans;
If your jeans has large holes and cannot be repaired, cut it up, use pockets to make wallets or camera sleeves; use legs to make wall organizers; cut the legs in squares to make a blanket or mat; use the edges to make a coaster. If you don't want to reuse them, give them to me!

Sweaters made of 100% wool are truly gems in the reuse&recycle goods. Wool is naturally warm, breathable, and bacteria-resistant. You can felt it and make baby booties, pants, or outfits that work much better than store-bought products in winter.

First, reduce your plastic bag usage by using your own grocery bags, including for produce.
Then, reuse all those plastic zipper bags that come with that comforter you bought;
Reuse those plastic takeout containers from Chinese restaurants, and plastic utensils from your lunchbox.
Recycle your plastic bags at the grocery store, or fuse them to use in crafts;
Still using grocery plastic bags for your small trash cans? Still using conventional trash bags? You can now find biodegradable trash bags in 4gallon, 13 gallon, and 30 gallon sizes on www.reuseit.com. So say no to grocery plastic bags or recycle them all!
Still using plastic sandwich bags? You can find biodegradable sandwich bags in some stores such as Fresh Market.

Recycle plastic bottles at a local recycling service, or drop them off at a recycling site such as WholeFoods or IKEA. At where I live I found drop-off sites for both Newport News and Yorktown residence. (check www.earth911.org for all available sites).
I am still looking for ways to recycle #1 and #2 plastic boxes, such as the one comes with salads and tomatoes at Sam's club.

from earth911 I found this mail-in program that accepts #3 (PVC), including gift cards, maybe (my guess) even credit card.

#5 plastics such as yogurt cups and bottles can be recycled at www.preserveproducts.com, who turns them into plastic plates and toothbrushes. You can mail them.
What about caps for plastic bottles, flip-cap for you shampoo, and caps for peanut butter jars? We are often told to throw them in the trash, but they are actually #5 recyclables. Collect them in a box and mail them to www.CapsCanDo.com.

Some cosmetic bottles and yogurt cups are in #6. Using earth911 I found this company recycles them and the closest site I can mail them to is in GA.

Plastics, #4 and #7: I cannot find any program where I can recycle them.
Brita filters: can be recycled. Check www.preserveproducts.com.
Eye glasses: can be dropped off at any LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Target Optical, or Sunglass Hut locations.
Others: check www.earth911.org. You will be surprised how many things you can recycle: bubble wraps, air pillows, packing peanuts, just to name a few.
Green Housekeeping:
Raising Baby Green, with less diapers: