13 Weird Things You Can Actually Recycle

Recycling – it’s not just for bottles and paper anymore. Check out some crazy things that can also be tossed in the recycling bin around the world.

1. Pet Fur

greendiary.com / Via Green Diary

All that pet hair gathering in the corners of your house…it’s good for something! Matter of Trust, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, uses donations of clean pet fur to craft oil-absorbing hair mats and hair-stuffed containment booms made from recycled pantyhose. These designs effectively soak up oil without requiring the use of new resources.

2. Bras

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Send in your used bras to the Bosom Buddies Program, which donates bras of all shapes and sizes to local shelters or redistributes them through exporters and organizations to women in developing nations.

3. Glasses and Hearing Aides

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Mail your old glasses, sunglasses and hearing aids to New Eyes for the Needy. They collect, recycle and distribute donated glasses to impoverished people overseas.

4. Mattresses

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Several mattress retailers will now accept used mattresses for recycling. The mattress will be sent to a mattress recycling center, where they recycle about 90 percent of it into fiber for clothing, wood chips, foam products, and scrap metal.

5. Greeting Cards

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It’s time to get rid of that shoebox of old cards you never look at – send them to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program. As part of the Kids Corp. program at St. Jude’s Ranch, abused and at-risk children are taught entrepreneurship skills by making new greeting cards out of old ones.

6. Pantyhose

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Companies like No Nonsense recycle your old nylon pantyhose by grinding them down and transforming them into park benches, playground equipment, carpets and even toys.

7. Tennis Balls

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The company, REBOUNCES, will take used tennis balls and use their Green Tennis Machine to re-pressurize the balls and make them as good as new. They take up to 500 tennis balls for free.

8. Dentures (If you’re in Japan)

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A nonprofit organization in Japan collects dentures to reclaim the metals like gold and silver that are inside and then donate the proceeds to UNICEF.

9. Wine corks

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reCork wants your corks! Natural cork is 100 percent biodegradable and renewable. It can become flooring tiles, building insulation, automotive gaskets, craft materials, soil conditioner, and sports equipment.

10. Gift Cards, Credit Cards and Hotel Keys

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Most ID cards, credit cards, and even hotel room keys are made from PVC. Recycling centers like Cleveland’s Earthworks System accept the cards, chop them up and melt them into sheets of PVC, which are remade into more cards.

11. Dirty Diapers (If you’re in the UK)

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Knowaste currently operates in the UK and since the 1990’s has been researching and developing technologies for recycling absorbent hygiene products (AHPs) like disposable diapers, adult incontinence products and feminine hygiene products.

12. Chewed Gum (If you’re in the UK)

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An airport in England collects recycled gum to help make tires, toys and other products.

13. Prosthetic Limbs

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Though not reused in the United States because of legal considerations, prosthetic limbs can be disassembled and shipped to third-world countries for use by landmine victims and other individuals in need. See the Amputee Coalition of America website for a list of organizations in the U.S that accept donations.