You might not be able to tell the problem from a quick look at that photo, but those are two of the old car seats that WestSide Baby CAN’T give to new owners – because of moldy components like straps. However, we learned during a Thursday followup on WS Baby’s car-seat-collection drive announcement (published here Wednesday night), non-reusable car seats are not destined for the landfill – a different kind of recycling is in store, according to Katie Salinas from Waste Management, which is partnering with WestSide Baby for two upcoming collection events:

Katie, by the way, is a West Seattleite. She and WS Baby’s Nancy Woodland met with media on Thursday to answer questions about the upcoming collection drive, which has two dates in two locations, covering much of the metro area: You can bring your old car seat to WestSide Baby HQ in White Center (10027 14th SW – map) at 10 am-2 pm on October 16th, and tell your North Seattle friends to drop theirs off at the CoolMom booth at the Sustainable Ballard Festival by Ballard Viking Bank (2237 NW 57th – map) this Sunday, 10 am-4 pm. Bottom line, as explained in the WestSide Baby newsletter:

Any car seat will be accepted at these events. We’ll figure out if they can be reused or must be recycled. To be reused, car seats must be less than 6 years old, never been in a car accident and never been washed with harsh chemicals.