Part of being green and sustainable is recycling and reusing. This is being made easier with a variety of websites dedicated to the cause. At Earth 911 you can look up information for your city on what can be recycled and where. In fact, you can put in a specific item you need to get rid of such as used motor oil or electronics and then be directed to a location near you. It also carries news articles related to recycling. http://earth911.com.

We are probably all aware of thrift stores such as Salvation Army, ARC, and Goodwill as places to find a variety of used household items and clothing. Thrift stores have been around for along time and have provided me with many needed items at a discount price. These organizations are also been a valuable resource when cleaning out my closets and drawers and hopefully my children’s used clothing have benefitted others. I have been on several phone lists for thrift stores that call me about every 6 weeks to see if I have anything to pick up. Its convenient for me and provides an incentive to clean. Find one in your area.

Restore is a store run by Habitat for Humanity and sells (as well as accepts) various household and building items for resell. I have bought many items there for the yard and office including fence posts, office chairs and room dividers. They usually have shelves and shelves of nails and screws as well as paint. Go here to see if there is one in your town: http://www.habitat.org/env/restores.aspx

The Freecycle Network was established to keep things out of the landfill and is an example of one person’s trash can be another person’s treasure. They have more than 4,000 local groups that are run as Yahoo Groups. If one person has something they no longer want and are willing to give it for free to someone else who needs it they can post it on their local Freecycle group for someone else to take. Go here to find a local group: http://www.freecycle.org/.

Craigs list is a site where anyone can post free classified ads. There are sites for over 500 cities. Many things on Craig’s list are free or at least inexpensive. I have used Craig’s list to find inexpensive yard tools and free firewood. http://www.craigslist.org/.

I will post these links and more when I find them on the right border of this website. Let me know if you know of other valuable ones.