More ways to waste less

Inspired by the waste-saving tip that Chris sent to WSB regarding canceling phone-book deliveries if you don’t want/need them (read about it here), someone else from WSB-land (who wanted to be anonymous) forwarded two recycling tips: First, if you have CDs or DVDs to get rid of, you can recycle them by mailing them – in any quantity — to the CD Recycling Center of America. It launched earlier this year; read about it here, and get the how-to specifics on their FAQ page here. Here’s the second forwarded tip, regarding holiday cards (this eHow page appears to be the original source):

Instead of throwing out your old holiday cards, consider donating them to charitable groups that will create new cards – or turn them into new cards yourself.

Things You’ll Need

* Gift Tags
* Ribbons
* Blank Cards
* Electronic Greeting Cards
* Holiday Greeting Cards
* Hole Punchers

Step One
Send holiday cards to St. Jude’s Ranch, a nonprofit home for youths that collects old holiday cards for reuse. Either cut off the backs of the cards or leave them intact. Children at St. Jude’s earn money by creating new holiday cards from the old.

Step Two
Mail the cards UPS “ground” or “bound printed matter” to St. Jude’s Card Recycling, 100 St. Jude Street, P.O. Box 60100, Boulder City, NV 89006.

Step Three
Cut off the backs of old holiday cards that do not have writing behind the front and use them as postcards.

Step Four
Create your own card by cutting and pasting parts of old cards onto a new blank card. You can find packages of blank cards at most arts and crafts stores.

Step Five
Use old holiday cards as gift tags by cutting them into square or rectangular shapes and punching holes in the corners for string or ribbon.

Step Six
Make placemats out of holiday cards instead of buying new ones. Cut out pictures or shapes from the old cards, place them between two pieces of contact paper and press together.

Step Seven
Save holiday cards for arts and crafts throughout the year if you have children.

One last recycling note for now – if you’re ready to recycle your Christmas tree, here’s the info we shared the day after Christmas.

6 Replies to "More ways to waste less"

  • dapuffin December 30, 2007 (4:42 pm)

    I use AOL and other CDs and DVDs as palettes for paint or other messy things in my studio. Mess ’em up and then dispose of them.

  • JenV December 30, 2007 (4:54 pm)

    when I used to get the free AOL CDs I found they made excellent drink coasters.
    any other unwanted CDs or DVDs I sell to Rubato Records for cash.

  • Its_Not_Trash_Its_Art December 30, 2007 (5:02 pm)

    Came across this apropos article earlier today about a San Francisco man that kept all of his trash in 2007!

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/30/BAFFU493E.DTL

  • Suits are not boring December 31, 2007 (9:49 am)

    I understand that St. Jude’s Ranch no longer is accepting cards. The response was so overwhelming that a few years ago they asked people to stop. The card program no longer is mentioned on their website http://stjudesranch.org/

  • WSB December 31, 2007 (1:10 pm)

    Thanks “suits” – I tried very hard to research that one since it had the ring of urban legend … but it did not appear to have been debunked anywhere. Nonetheless, the other tips are good ones. At WSB HQ, we have gone paperless, fits right in with our business model of course :)

  • Suits are not boring December 31, 2007 (6:27 pm)

    I grew up in S Nevada and used to donate every year. Last year when I went to get the address for my yearly donation, their site thanked people for their past donations, but asked for no more. This year their site had nothing about the donations. The other tips are great and thanks for doing this!

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