How Recycling Is Good for Your Wallet

Recycling is important to help conserve the environment, making it a habitable place for generations to come. When recycling, a sense of achievement is often felt, motivating you to do a bit more.

However, with the money involved, getting into recycling is easier than ever. Here are some ways recycling is good for your wallet.

Recycle Scrap Metal

Metal is one of the most popular recyclable materials as it does not degrade with every subsequent recycling. When using metal materials, taking them to a scrap metal yard will make for some extra money. 

Note that different kinds of metal such as steel, iron, brass, copper, and aluminum are different, so the payout will vary. But selling off scrap metal is a great way to make money and help the environment at the same time.

Old Books

In many homes, there is a stockpile of books lying around with no use. The books can be from school or a hobby. A simple way to recycle is to trade your books you don’t need for credit at a used book store. This way you can get new books while extending the lifecycle of your old books.

Collect Cans

Be it soda, beer, or any other beverage, many people consume can after can. While normally these cans would go in the garbage, many people collect them. Once you have a fair bit of cans, you can sell them to a recycling center. Then you can feel better about having so much soda!

Electronics

New technology comes out every day. Old technologies become cheaper and new tech becomes more powerful. Your old computer may be too slow for you, but it could be just right for someone else. 

Consider selling it to someone else. If you can’t find a buyer, you could consider using old hardware for simple tasks, like a back-up box.

Another option is tech recycling companies. Some companies will buy broken-down electronics and then break them down into base elements such as gold, copper, and silicon. 

While there’s not enough gold for you to make a reasonable profit, a dedicated company can make a profit. So consider selling your old equipment to recycling centers.

Recycling is a simple change of mindset. Turning off unused lights will help in decreasing the electricity bills. Recycling cans and tins from food, and trading them in will help get cashback instead of getting the items in landfills. Remember, recycling can be good for more than just the environment.

4 Unexpected Ways You Can Make Money While Cleaning Junk out of Your Home

Not many of us look forward to the idea of cleaning out our home. However, you should get excited to do so because there are various ways that you can make money while cleaning the junk out of your home. We're going to share four methods with you below, so prepare to get pumped up.

Sell Your Clothes

Many communities have stores popping up where you can sell your old clothes. Discount stores allow others to purchase name brand items for much cheaper than at the retail stores. If you have some old name brand clothes or other similar items, then you want to put them all in one bag. 

You'll simply need to take the bag to one of these discount clothing stores. They'll go through your bag of items and offer you money for the ones that they want to purchase.

List Working Items

As you're going through the items in your home, you'll likely come across a multitude of items that work, but you no longer need. Most of us hang on to these items for the simple fact that we don't want to throw them out because they're still working. 

What you can do to make yourself a little change is to list these items on online marketplaces and offer them at a discounted price.

Sell Scrap Metal

Selling scrap metal is a very easy way to make some extra pocket change without a whole lot of time invested. As you're cleaning out rooms like your garage or attic, you'll likely find spare metal. 

Scrap metal buyers will pay for different types of metal, including copper, steel, and aluminum. It's also not uncommon for these dealers to also pay for things like old appliances that have metal inside of them.

Use Buyback Sites

Another great way to get money for your old items is to sell them to buyback sites. There are sites for different items. Some of the most popular include book buyback websites and cell phone buyback websites. 

Most of these places offer free shipping and will automatically deposit the money into your checking account for the items that you're selling them.

Cleaning out your home doesn't have to be an overwhelming experience. Rather, when you understand that you can make money off of your old items, it starts to become a fun experience. 

When you start your next spring cleaning, consider all four of these options for making some extra money from your old items.

Understanding What It Means To Be Eco-Friendly: What To Look For In The Products You Buy

One of the biggest buzzwords of the twenty-first century is “eco-friendly”. Companies of all kinds are trying to tap into the market of those people who care about the environment, but consumers can be taken advantage of if they do not know what they are looking for in an eco-friendly product. If you want to start shopping green and reducing your carbon footprint, then there are several things you should be looking for in any product that claims to be “eco-friendly”. Consumers are learning what concepts like eco-friendly, renewable, sustainable, and eco-conscious really mean in today's world, TD Friends of the Environment donations go a long way to educating people committed to protecting the environment.

Materials

The most important thing to consider is what the item is being made from. There are basically two types of materials that you should look for when you are making an eco-friendly consumer purchase. The first of these is renewable materials, or materials that will come back when they are used. When companies make plastic for a phone case, the oil that is the raw material for the plastic is non-renewable, as it does not come back when it is used. On the other hand, a wooden or bamboo phone case is considered renewable since those items will grow back on their own. Related to the idea of renewable resources is sustainability, the other thing that you should be looking for. Sustainability means that companies can continue to use the materials and processes at a reasonable level for a long period of time without causing damage to the local environment. Clear cutting forests for wooden furniture meets the criteria for renewable resources, but it fails the sustainability check because the companies are cutting down the trees faster than they can regrow.

Durability

The next thing that you will want to look at in the products that you buy is the durability of the item itself. As an eco-conscious consumer you want to protect the environment, but you also want to make sure that the items you purchase will last you a long time, and they will be able to stand up to the wear and tear that you will put them through. Too many times eco-friendly products are made with renewable and sustainable materials, but those materials fall apart with heavy use and you wind up buying that product over and over.

Manufacturing

Finally, you should consider the way that the items are manufactured, if you want to be a true eco-friendly shopper. Most of the chemicals that are causing global warming can be attributed to power production and manufacturing, so you want a manufacturer who works hard to offset this issue. In eco-friendly terms these companies are called “carbon neutral” because they use renewable forms of energy for production, or they take actions, like planting trees, to balance the amount of carbon dioxide they are putting into the atmosphere. While there are many companies that are striving for carbon neutrality, most of the companies that you will have ready access to are not totally carbon neutral. With all other things being equal, if you want to be an eco-friendly consumer, go with the company that claims carbon neutrality or claims to have a lower carbon footprint.
Shopping in an eco-friendly way requires more time and more work than shopping without thinking about the environment; however, once you find those manufacturers that you like, shopping is a breeze. The important thing about eco-friendly shopping is to remember to look at the label and read carefully so you know exactly where the product is coming from.

I am Lindsay Barlow, and I am an eco-conscious shopper and an environmentalist. Sites like Bambooki are great for finding eco-friendly products that are perfect for all of your home needs.

Retirement and Recycling: See Why These Two Go Hand in Hand with a Great Future

No one can escape retirement and the good part is that no one wants to. We have to take some time to enjoy peaceful days, to explore new things, to adapt and perhaps prepare a more calm, relaxed mentality and to apply a different angle on the way we see the world. Actually, the people who retire are the ones who are truly blessed: you get to spend more time with the people who matter, you get to watch over your grandchildren, you have tons of offers and resorts to select from and you finally have the time to do it all. 

Retirement should not be scary at all. Of course, it is a major change in our lives, but it also a change that is much needed. It is the time to either develop a small business that does not require too much energy or the time to write books, read stories, live through the eyes of the family’s youngsters. Some might think retirement is taking a step back, but I think retirement is a step forward. We, as human beings, have the capacity to embrace change and to adapt. Even more than that, we have the ability to recreate our surroundings so that we enjoy it and feel at ease in our environment. Creativity never leaves the human mind alone, as we strive to create a comfortable present and a better future. 

Recycling Bin (Photo credit: Canton Public Library (MI))

So what does this have to do with recycling? The answer is the future, of course. Sure, we “live the moment” and are anchored in our present like a key is in a locker. But what we all do, in a conscious or subconscious way, is to look and to walk towards the future. The key we talked about, well, it can open or close a locker. Humans can also open or close the future through their actions. Ignorance can easily lock away all the possibilities, while implication can unlock new opportunities and a new world. Recycling is that part that can unlock the future: not only for us, but for our family members, for our children and for our friends and neighbors. It is a way of giving back to the community or the group that has been supporting you for all those years. 

The EPA.gov website explains in several reports why recycling is needed and how recycling donations can be made in the USA. The first things we can recycle are of course electronics such as laptops, PCs, cellphones and Printers. These are the things we use the most and the one which deteriorate fast or downgrade. The Tech industry itself promotes the idea of getting rid of the old and embracing the new. And while we are tempted to get the latest notebooks and gadgets, what should we do with the old ones? 

Another answer: Recycle. Probably a reason to why many businesses were born: out of the need for a greener feature, a place where people can bring their old stuff and receive financial compensation and a place where people can actually buy cheaper recycled material. Here is an example: cartridgeexpress.net is one of those companies that recycles and buys material that can be recycled and reused. They operate in the PC&Electronics recycling industry, focusing on printers, ink cartridges and other components. People can both give up for recycling or buy recycled products and lower prices, with the same quality. 

All these actions lead to a better future: more workplaces, more businesses, a greener environment, a green retirement, a better tomorrow for our loved ones. So there you have it: a worldwide action towards greener living, greener products and a greener future for us all. 

Interesting Recycling Facts 

Did you know that if you recycle approx. 1,000,000 notebooks, you can save the energy equivalent to the average electricity usage by more than 3,500 homes every year? And that for every 1 million Smartphones and cell phones we recycle, 35,000 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered?