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You’re doing your part to keep waste out of the landfill — but what about those items that don’t belong in your curbside recycling bin, like an old hair dryer, broken string lights, or even burnt-out appliances? The good news is that many unexpected items can be recycled, including razors, used toothpaste tubes, curling irons, vacuum cleaners, coffee brewers, mattresses and more! Some of these items get a second life by being donated to those in need, while others are transformed into plastic pellets to create new products or repurposed into cleaning rags and stuffing.
We’ve put together a list of places where you can drop off or mail these hard-to-recycle items. Best of all, most services are free! Not only will you be helping the planet, you’ll be supporting your community too.
Legos
When your kids have outgrown their Lego sets, pass them on through Lego Replay. Simply print out a free shipping label, box up the bricks and ship. Duplo, big and little bricks are welcome, and you don’t even need to take them apart or have a whole set (thank goodness!).
Ergobaby carriers
At Ergobaby Everlove, you can sell back your Ergobaby carrier. Go to the website, answer a few questions and even add a story about your experience. Then print out a label, box it up and schedule a USPS pickup. Once received, the carrier will be inspected, cleaned and then re-sold to the next family.
Shoes
Soles4Souls is an organization that accepts donations of any kind of new or gently worn shoes. It partners with organizations that help people in poverty start businesses. Go to the website to find a drop-off location or to ship your donation for free.
Patagonia clothing
Patagonia accepts any of its products for recycling. When you are ready to recycle your washed and dried Patagonia item, take it to any Patagonia retail store or organize shipping using the information found online. The products will be repurposed or recycled by the company, ensuring that they won’t end up in a landfill.
Clothing and footwear from The North Face
Drop off any unwanted North Face clothing and footwear at retail stores and outlets and get $10–$50 in store credit. If you don’t live near a store you can mail them your items. See the website for details.
REI used gear
REI Co-op members can trade in their used gear and receive an REI gift card. Members must be 18 or older, but kids items can be traded in, too. Check if your items qualify first. If your item is listed on the used-gear trade-in page, and the color and style match the picture, you can mail it in for trade — even if you bought it somewhere else.
Mattresses
Mattresses take up a lot of space in landfills, which is unfortunate because 90 percent of mattress components are recyclable. Recycle Warehouse in Everett takes mattresses, as well as appliances including stoves, refrigerators, freezers, microwaves, air conditioners, dishwashers, lawnmowers and more.
Holiday lights
What do you do with old string lights that are burned out or just out of style? You can recycle your string lights at one of many King County locations. The lights will be processed and the copper wire will be recycled. Participating retailers and organizations ask that you remove large bulbs along with any plastic or packaging before drop-off.
Clothing and cosmetics packaging
Nordstrom offers clothing donation bins in its stores. If you can’t make it to a store, they partner with Give Back Box and provide prepaid shipping labels to send your used clothing to their clothing donation program. All donations are directed to nonprofit partners, where they’ll be sold to support community programs like job training, education and access to health care. Nordstrom also offers Beautycycle recycling bins in local stores. They take items like make-up tubes, dispensers, empty cleanser and toner bottles, empty lipstick tubes and more.
Textiles
Some items are damaged or too worn to be donated. Threadcycle, a program of King County Solid Waste Division, can help. Threadcycle takes bedding (no mattresses), single shoes or socks, hats, accessories, linens and even stuffed animals. See the entire list of accepted items on the website.
About 20 percent of donations get a second life at a thrift store, while the rest are repurposed into cleaning rags, insulation and stuffing. The program doesn’t take wet items or textiles infested with bedbugs. There are a variety of drop-off points around King County.
If you have kids clothing that you no longer need, or that no longer fits, Legacy Bundles might be your answer. Simply select your swap option and pick out the items you want to receive (you can only select the type of item, size and gender) and Legacy Bundles will send you a prepaid bag in the mail. When the bag arrives, fill it up with 30 items of kids clothes (size newborn through 5T) and send it back. After your items are processed you’ll get another bag in the mail containing 30 new-to-you pieces of kids clothes. When your kid’s closet is ready for another refresh, go through the process again to receive a new bag (each bag costs $39). Pretty genius! (They have detailed info about items they can and cannot accept, so make sure you read it thoroughly.)
TerraCycle
TerraCycle partners with companies to recycle items that local services don’t typically accept. You can drop off items or print a label or code to ship your recyclables. The program is free to join, and you earn points for items you send in; those points can be converted into charitable donations. Once received, the products are cleaned and then melted down into plastic pellets to be used in other recycled products. You can even order “Zero Waste” boxes for every room in your house. Browse the website for various products and see a few highlights below.
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Diapers and wipes packaging: Huggies has partnered with TerraCycle to offer a free recycling program for the plastic outer packaging of diapers and wipes. After signing up for the program online, you can download a prepaid shipping label and send in your plastic packaging which will be cleaned, shredded and recycled into material for making new products.
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Oral care products: Sign up for a free account with TerraCycle to recycle used toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and caps, floss boxes and other oral care packaging. You can drop off (check the website for locations) or print a free shipping label for mailing in your recyclables.
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Razors and blades: Gillette, together with TerraCycle, offers recycling of all brands of razors, blades and packaging. Find a drop-off location or download a tracking code to ship your recyclables via your preferred courier service.
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Baby food packaging: Gerber partners with TerraCycle to recycle baby food packaging, plus large and small hook Gerber clothing hangers and other items such as plastic containers, lids, shrink-wrap and pouches. Remove the remaining product and ensure that all packaging is dry. They ask that you send in only items that are not recyclable through your local service.
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Contact lenses: Through Bausch + Lomb and TerraCycle, you can recycle contact lenses and blister packs. Check the link to find a location where these can be dropped off. Any brand is accepted. The metal is recycled separately and the plastic is made into pellets.
Best Buy tech
At Best Buy you can first see what your electronic devices are worth, then trade them in for a gift card; or you can recycle smaller tech items, such as keyboards, computer mice, printers, toner cartridges, cell phones and more. This is a free recycling service for as many as three items per household per day.
Electronics
E-Cycle Washington is a free program that recycles TVs, computers, monitors, tablets, e-readers, laptops and portable DVD players. If your item is severely damaged, call first to see if it can be recycled.
Amazon’s trade-in program accepts a variety of used Kindle e-readers, cell phones, gaming devices, tablets, speakers, home security devices and more. Check out the site to see if your items qualify and Amazon will provide you with a free shipping label to send it back. If the trade-in item is accepted you will get an Amazon gift card equal to the appraised value of your item and up to 20 percent off a new qualifying Amazon device. If your item doesn’t qualify for resale, it is sent to an Amazon-approved recycler.
Staples products
Staples also offers free recycling for electronics, plus lots of other random items such as coffee brewers, earbuds, smartwatches and much more. You can earn reward points by recycling, and take advantage of in-store deals when you recycle specific items (see the website for details).
Small appliances
Recycle as many as three small appliances per household per day at Best Buy. Among the appliances it accepts are vacuums (broom/stick, robot and upright/canister varieties) and fans. If you have lots of stuff to recycle, you can also use the Standalone Haul-Away service and Best Buy will remove and recycle up to 2 large products (including major appliances) and an unlimited number of select smaller products for $199.99.
Batteries
Household (alkaline) and rechargeable batteries can be picked up with your recycling through Recology. Place household and button batteries in a sealed bag and put them on top of your bin. Do the same for rechargeable batteries, but use a separate sealed bag.
Larger rechargeable batteries can be recycled for free at Home Depot. Any rechargeable battery, including lithium batteries and cell phone batteries, that weighs up to 11 pounds and is under 300 watt-hours is accepted. See the website for service areas.
Child car seats
Target takes back any type of car seat from infant carriers to boosters and bases. This is a great way to keep an expired or damaged car seat out of the landfill. Seat components are recycled by Target’s partner, Waste Management. Upcoming car seat trade-in events near you are posted on Target’s website. In return, you get a coupon for your next car seat purchase.
Bulbs, plastic, batteries and more
Ridwell offers a regular recycling service for plastics, packaging, textiles, batteries, bulbs and more. It has different paid service plans depending on your needs.
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Editor’s note: This article was originally published several years ago and was updated most recently in March 2025 by ParentMap’s associate editor, Kari Hanson, with new details and a thorough fact-check.
