“My mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ " - Mr. Rogers
I hate throwing things away, not so much because I cling to things, but because I cringe at wasting anything. I was compiling a list of local resources for myself when I discovered that SCARCE already has most of what I was looking for. Highly recommended!
Apart from the many things they themselves accept, they have a comprehensive reference page for other resources, including special recycling events and specialty drop-off resources.
My house is a mess. There’s plenty I’d be happy to get rid of, but I’m compulsive about recycling and avoiding the landfill. So I started to gather web resources until I discovered that the DuPage County Recycling Page has (or has links to) almost anything I could possibly want. Here’s just a bit of it:
Specific Item Recycling
Also — clothing and cloth recycling! I’ve been wanting to clean out our closets but felt guilty about “donating” worn clothing. From the page —
DuPage County has partnered with eWorks and RewearAble to collect clothing and textiles for reuse and recycling. Items not able to be reused will be turned into cleaning/painting rags or reused in insulation, packing material and carpeting.
There are also links to municipal recycling services.
Finally, don’t overlook the sidebar — lots of interesting stuff there. In particular, check out the Recycling Guide for Non-Curbside, which includes stores that accept particular items and junk haulers that recycle whatever they can.