The average American throws away about five pounds of trash every DAY. So here are four things you probably didn’t know you can recycle.
1. Sneakers. Nike has a program called Reuse-A-Shoe that grinds them up and uses the material for other stuff, like artificial turf. Just google “Reuse-A-Shoe”, and their website shows you the closest place to drop them off.
2. Brita water filters. A company called Preserve melts down the plastic, and uses it to make stuff like toothbrushes, plastic cups, and cutting boards.
3. Bras. The website BraRecycling.com has about 50 drop-off locations in cities around the country. Or you can mail them in. There’s also a company called No Nonsense that does the same thing with pantyhose.
4. Light bulbs. You’re not actually supposed to throw away the new compact fluorescent kind, because they have mercury in them. So a lot of recycling centers accept them now, and so does Home Depot.
There’s also a website called Earth911 that can tell you whether or not you can recycle something, and where to take it.
(SafeBee.com / CBS News)
