The holiday season has long since come and gone. And yet the toys remain. So many toys. To make things even worse, it seems that every day another one of them gets broken, or your child simply outgrows it or loses interest. Meanwhile, holidays and birthdays come hard and fast, leaving you with more and more toys and nothing to do with them.
Besides throwing them away, you do have a few options when it comes to disposing of old toys.
Know Your Options For Recycling
Some toys are easier to recycle than others. Most scrap yards are happy to accept old metal toys. Any sort of electronic toy is a bit more difficult to recycle; in most cases, you will have to take these apart to dispose of different parts of the toy separately. Wooden toys usually just need a bit of TLC so they can be reused. Plastic toys present several problems, which we’ll get to later. Another option is to look into a toy recycling program like this sponsored by Hasbro and TerraCotta. They collect used toys and recycle them into raw materials.
Donate
Contact charity organizations and thrift stores in your area to find out whether they can accept gently used toys. It will make you (and your children) feel good to know that their once-beloved playthings can brighten someone else’s day. Or consider hosting a neighborhood toy swap: everyone brings some old toys they don’t use anymore so that they can find a new home.
The Problem of Plastic
Because most toys are composed of a combination of different kinds of plastic, your municipality may be unable to accept them for recycling. Call ahead to find out what they do accept before attempting to recycle old plastic toys.
If you feel like you’re getting buried under a mountain of old toys, don’t despair. A little care and planning can save you from the avalanche while reducing your environmental footprint at the same time. You can also contact us at Junkco and we will take care of it all for you!