WestSide Baby expands car-seat recycling: They’ll take ’em all

| How to help | Safety | West Seattle news | White Center

WestSide Baby has accepted car seats for recycling before – but usually, just the ones in good enough shape to reuse. Starting this Saturday, they will accept ALL used car seats – 10 am-2 pm on Saturday, bring yours to their donation HQ in White Center, 10032 15th SW (map) – so if you have one, in any condition, in the basement, the attic, the closet, the garage, bring it over! For the new campaign Re-Ride: Car Seat Reuse and Recycling for Local Children in Need, WS Baby is now partnering with recyclers Total Reclaim to enable acceptance of any and all car seats (if yours can’t be reused, they request a $5 minimum donation to help cover the cost of recycling its materials). WS Baby says they are only able to fill about HALF the requests they currently get for car seats, so widening the recycling program will hopefully help them fill more. P.S. If you can help them dismantle car seats in preparation for recycling, please contact Shana Allen at shana@westsidebaby.org or 206-767-1662.

question September 14, 2011 (1:22 pm)

I’ve never understood this while I’m sure there is a need every ped I’ve talked to says never use a used carseat you don’t know its crash history.

WSB September 14, 2011 (1:50 pm)

Question – I’m checking w/Nancy at WS Baby. I suspect the answer will be, they’re not going to re-use car seats that went through more than one owner, so if they get them directly from the owner (the original buyer), they theoretically would know the seat’s history and be able to verify it wasn’t in a crash – TR

Nancy@ WestSide Baby September 14, 2011 (3:00 pm)

Car seats should be reused with caution. That is why most “donation agencies” will not take them. WestSide Baby, however, has tackled the issue because we know the need for car seats is so high. When seats are dropped at our facility or our drop off sites, donors are asked to answer two questions: 1) has the seat been in a crash and 2) have you washed the straps in any harsh chemicals? Our third initial focus is on the age of the seat. They should not be more than 5 year’s old. IF the car seats pass that test, (no crash, no bleach and not too old) they move on to phase two. This includes a safety inspection by a Certified Car Seat Technician. The technician has undergone a 4 day training and follows procedures outlined by Safe Kids King County South’s Pass-It program to make sure every seat is safe. On the rare occasion we receive a car seat without a history, our technician inspects it much more thoroughly. This is a great question and highlights why our car seat program is involved and multi-step. We believe every child in our community deserves to be equally safe. If I wouldn’t put my child in it, we won’t pass it along to someone else’s.

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