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Recycling

Web resources in recycling for Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh Region

General Resources

  • Allegheny Couny Health Department Recycling
    Allegheny County Health Department offers a directory of places in Allegheny County which accept various materials for recycling -- from glass containers to polystyrene loose fill. Also lists companies that will haul your recyclables.
  • City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Environmental Services
    The Public Works department responsible for recycling posts information for city residents. You can find information on garbage pickup schedules, yard debris, telephone book recycling, fall leaf disposal.
  • Construction Junction
    http://www.constructionjunction.org/
    Construction Junction is a non-profit retail store specializing in used and surplus building materials located in North Point Breeze. They also have drop off sites for paper, plastics, cardboard, glass, cans, etc.
  • Freecycle: Pittsburgh
    This is a link to the freecycle.org group for Pittsburgh. Freecycle is a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Do you have something to get rid of? Do you need something and can't pay for it new? Check here.
  • Pennsylvania Resources Council:
    PRC is a nonprofit citizens' action organization. Under Programs, Community, they have information on collection sites for hazardous waste in the Pittsburgh area.
  • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Where to donate your items
    Althought the point of this article from January 2, 2008 was how to get rid of your "stuff", the emphasis is on recycling it.

Appliances

  • Appliance Warehouse
    Appliance Warehouse is a company specializing in the recycling and resale of used appliances on the South Side (523 Bingham Street ~ Pittsburgh, PA 15203).

Bicycles

Books and Magazines

  • Pittsburgh Used Books
    This is a list of public libraries and organizations that hold annual and ongoing booksales. Compiled by Margie Spenser.

Clothing and Household Items

  • Freepeats
    Here you can get gently-used baby, kid, and maternity items like clothing, high chairs, bouncers, swings, bikes, and toys for free from other parents who have finished with them. Or you can get rid of your own stuff. A forum started in Pittsburgh in October 2008.
  • Goodwill of Pittsburgh
    Information on donating items to Goodwill, what they will accept, including automobiles.
  • Light of Life Ministries
    Holds an annual coat drive each September to collect gently used coats for the needy. Coats can be dropped off at participating dry cleaners. They also run a thrift store which offers pick up service for donations. Needed items.
  • Pittsburgh Cares
    Don't throw away that old coat or jacket!! Each fall, Pittsburgh Cares has a "Spread the Warmth" Annual Coat Drive, and collects "gently used" coats for distribution to local community service organizations that serve needy people, both children and adults, in the Pittsburgh community.
  • Salvation Army Western Pennsylvania
    You may donate clothing and household items to the Salvation Army. Included on their website is a Valuation Guide for Donated Items.
  • Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary Fabric Fair
    Each April the SA Women's Auxiliary collects and sorts donated fabric, yarn, patterns, kits, craft items, notions and how to books, to sell them at their annual Fabric Fair in the South Park Home Economics Building on Brownsville Road. If you have unused fabric or sewing materials you want to get rid of, contact Marilyn DeHuff at 412-835-3162 for a list of drop off locations.
  • Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Council of Pittsburgh
    Accepts household items and gently used furniture.

Computers

  • Computers of Hope
    Computers Hope recyles and refurbishes old used IT equipment so that it does not end up in our landfills. They remarket surplus IT equipment for companies to untie their cash and do data retrieval.
  • Goodwill Computer Works of South Side
    The Computer Recycling Center solicits donations of PCs and related equipment from corporations, small businesses, educational institutions, health care facilities, government agencies and individuals. They test, refurbish what is usable, disassemble nonfunctioning computers for recycling, and sell refurbished computers to the public and to nonprofit groups.
  • Second Life Computer Remanufacturing
    Second Life picks up your discarded computers and monitors and re-manufactures them for use in local non-profits and developing nations.
  • Staples Recycling
    You can take your used computers, monitors, laptops, and desktop printers, faxes and all–in–ones to any U.S. Staples store and they will accept it for recycling, regardless of whether or not the equipment was purchased at Staples. A recycling fee of $10 per piece of large equipment is charged to cover handling, transport, product disassembly and recycling.

Food and Yard Wastes

Hazardous Wastes

  • RBRC: Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation
    The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) can help you recycle your portable rechargeable batteries. These batteries are commonly found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, camcorders, digital cameras, and remote control toys. RBRC recycles the following battery chemistries: Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH), Lithium Ion (Li-ion) and Small Sealed Lead* (Pb). Search for a drop off site by zip code.
  • Southwestern Pennsylvania Household Hazardous Waste Task Force
    Maintains hazardous waste collection events. Check here for a date and location for disposing of oil-based paints and paint related products, pesticides, pool chemicals, drain cleaners, and de-greasers and other car care products.
  • Used Oil Collection Sites
    Don't throw your motor oil down a storm drain. Check here for a recycling site by zip code.

Medical Equipment

  • Global Links
    Global Links is a nonprofit organization, headquartered in Pittsburgh, that is dedicated to recovering surplus medical equipment and supplies for use by healthcare institutions serving the poor around the world.

Metals

Most municipalities in the Pittsburgh area recycle glass, metals, and plastics.

  • Western Pennsylvania Hospital Foundation: Aluminum Cans for Burned Children
    Sponsors the Aluminum Cans for Burned Children (ACBC) program that sends children with burns to camp, helps children with burns return to school, and helps fund outreach programs to keep children from being burned through aluminum can recycling proceeds and through contributions from generous groups of individuals. Don't toss those aluminum cans!

Paper, Newspaper, Junk Mail

  • PaperRetreiver
    Perhaps you have seen many of the recycling bins that are part of the Abitibi Paper Retriever® Community Recycling Program. They take all kinds of paper, not just newspaper and magazines. Abitibi-Consolidated, a Canadian company, is among the largest recyclers of newspapers and magazines in North America.

Plastic Bags and Plastic

Instead of plastic bags, bring your own reusable bag to the supermarket. Almost all supermarkets by 2008 sell reusable bags for around $1.

  • PlasticBagReycycling
    An informational site from the American Plastics Council about reusing and recycling plastic bags. Don't forget to recycle your plastic grocery bags at the grocery store!
  • Plastics Resource
    A lot of material on plastics recycling from the American Plastics Council.
  • ReusableBags
    Since 2003 ReusableBags.com has been a major force providing facts and news on the global push to reduce plastic and paper bag consumption. They sell reusable grocery and other types of bags. For more information see the post gazette article. Some grocery stores sell reusable bags (East End Food Co-Op, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Giant Eagle).

Pennsylvania

 

United States

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Selected Books

The Humanure Handbook
Jenkins, Joseph C.
The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure
S657.J46 1999
By not disposing of feces and urine through the typical use of a flush toilet, nutrients can be returned to the soil as fertilizer. Eventually we'll have to deal with all the sewage that we produce. See Sewage As Fertilizer.