We’ve all been there. You’re staring at that old computer, light bulb, battery, pile of packing peanuts or what-have-you, knowing a) you do not want to keep it, b) you are not supposed to dump it into the garbage can. Your self-image as a progressive, environmentally-conscious citizen of the Earth is at stake. So what do you do?
You thank Barb Burrill, that’s what you do. Because she has assembled this handy list of recycling resources in and near Wallingford for practically everything under the sun. And don’t worry, if you lose track of this post, we’re going to put it under the Wallingford Resources page on the Wallyhood main menu.
OLD ELECTRONICS
- Old computers: The best place for refurbishing and reusing computers and computer peripherals is InterConnection, 3415 Stone Way N. InterConnection is a non-profit that refurbishes computers and provides them to worldwide charitable organizations. 206-633-1517
- Old cell phones: Donate at John Stanford International School to support school “Green Team.” Drop box located inside north school entrance at NE 42nd & 5th Ave NE parking lot. School days, 8 am – 4 pm.
- Almost any other item related to computers or electronics, including CDs, DVDs, audio tapes: RePC SoDo store: 1565 6th Ave S. 206-623-9151
- Ink and toner cartridges: Drop off at John Stanford International School (above) or at Cartridge World, 400 NE 45th St 206-632-5555
LIGHT BULBS
- Compact fluorescent light bulbs (unbroken; no fluorescent tubes): Take to Bartell Drugs – hand to employee at checkout 1820 N 45th St 206-632-3313
- Fluorescent tubes:
- North Household Hazardous Waste facility – up to 10 tubes per trip 12550 Stone Ave N
- Greenwood True Value Hardware 7201 Greenwood Ave N 206-783-2900
- Maple Leaf Ace Hardware 9000 Roosevelt Way N 206-522-3324
BATTERIES
- Rechargable including cell phone batteries
- Bartell Drugs 1820 N 45th St 206-632-3313
- Radio Shack 4223 University Way NE 206-632-4720
- Alkaline batteries, including AAA, AA, C, D, 9 volt, camera, hearing aid, watch
- Whole Foods (all locations)
- May go in garbage
- Or take to North Household Hazardous Waste facility at 12550 Stone Ave N
- Lithium batteries
- May go in garbage
- Or take to North Household Hazardous Waste facility at 12550 Stone Ave N
- Vehicle / lead-acid batteries
- Take to South Transfer Station metal recycling, no charge. (North Station closed for remodeling.)
HOLIDAY LIGHTS (may be seasonal)
- King County Solid Waste Division web site has current info and recycling locations
Remove all packaging, twist-ties and rubber bands. Place lights directly in the collection bin, not in any sort of bag or with other extra material.
STYROFOAM
- Styrofoam packing peanuts: Take to UPS Store (2311 N 45th) for re-use. No biodegradable peanuts 206-522-1970
- Styrofoam chunks: Take to Seattle Lighting Outlet for recycling. 26 S. Hanford, just south of Home Depot in SoDo. 206-268-3579
BIODEGRADABLE PACKING PEANUTS
- Reuse or dissolve in water, or put in garbage.Cedar Grove says they are not compostable.
WINE CORKS
- City Cellars 1710 N 45th St 206- 632-7238
- Wine World 400 NE 45th St 206-402-6086
- PCC (all locations)
- Whole Foods (all locations)
WATER FILTERS – BRITA brand only
- Whole Foods (all locations) participates in the “Gimme 5” recycling program
PLASTICS WITH RECYCLING # 5
- Whole Foods (all locations) participates in the “Gimme 5” recycling program
PLASTIC CAPS from bottles, jars, jugs
- Aveda plastic cap recycling program was ended as of 12/31/14, as most municipal recycling programs now accept plastic caps when attached to plastic bottles.
- Attach plastic cap to the empty plastic bottle and recycle in your curbside container.
- Feel free to flatten the bottle before attaching the cap.
SHOPPING BAGS / BREAD BAGS / PRODUCE BAGS / BUBBLE WRAP / PLASTIC FILM / SHRINK WRAP / DRY CLEANING BAGS
- Bag Your Bags! Stuff them– clean, dry, without food residue – into another bag, tie it up, and bring back to one of the stores below. This program accepts many more items than curbside recycling, plus the materials stay cleaner.
- Accepted: plastic grocery bags, bread bags, produce bags, plastic wrap from paper products (such as paper towels and toilet paper), plastic bubble wrap, dry cleaning bags, shrink wrap
- Not accepted:plastic zipper bags, plastic bags with strings, frozen food bags
- QFC – 1801 N 45th St – give bags to checker (no public collection bin)
- QFC – 2746 NE 45th St, 6600 Roosevelt Way NE
- Most other Seattle QFC stores – see current “Bag Your Bag” locations here
CLOTHES HANGERS
- Metal clothes hangers get tangled in recycling sorting equipment, so don’t put in curbside recycling
- Take to Sun Cleaners 2600 N 45th St 206-633-3131 for recycling
- Take to transfer station metal recycling (no charge)
SMALL APPLIANCES
- Take to South Transfer Station metal recycling, no charge. (North Station closed for remodeling.)
BUILDING MATERIALS, new or salvaged
- Re-Store 1440 NW 52nd St 206-297-9119 Will Accept / Won’t Accept Call to confirm.
- Second Use 7953 2nd Ave S 206-763-6929 Acceptance Policies. Call to confirm.
- Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement Store 21 South Nevada St 206-957-6914 Donation Guidelines
SCRAP METAL
- Anything primarily of metal that does not contain hazardous products
- Take to South Transfer Station metal recycling, no charge. (North Station closed for remodeling.)
- No electronics (see OLD ELECTRONICS above)
PHONEBOOKS and JUNK MAIL
- Opt out of phone book and/or junk mail delivery: Catalog Choice Seattle
HARD COVER BOOKS
- Donate to Friends of Seattle Public Library: guidelines for donation
- Try Craigslist, Freecycle, or Donate Seattle if SPL won’t take them
- Only pages of hard cover books can be recycled; tear or cut out of book. Spine and cover go in garbage.
PAPERBACK BOOKS, ART PRINTS, POSTERS, AUDIO BOOKS, CDs, COMPUTER SOFTWARE, SHEET MUSIC, DVDs
- Donate to Friends of Seattle Public Library: guidelines for donation
- Take three or fewer boxes to any Seattle Public Library branch
- More than three boxes take to: Friends Book Sale sorting room, 6310 NE 74th St, east wing of Building 30, Magnuson Park.
FOOTWEAR – that is still wearable
- Shoes, boots, sandals of all sizes for men, women, children: Donate to Redeeming Soles. Collection bin locations:
- Sock Monster, 1909 N 45th St 206-724-0123
- John Stanford Int’l School – inside entrance off parking lot on NE 42nd Street between 4th and 5th Aves. NE
WORN/UNWEARABLE CLOTHING, SHOES, BACKPACKS, other TEXTILES
- ReTex: They take your clothes that are too old to donate (including socks with holes) and turn them into rags for resale.
- Collection bin located in the Shell station parking lot across the street from Dick’s Drive-In (111 NE 45th St)
ART, CRAFT, and SCHOOL SUPPLIESsupplies.
- Seattle ReCreative
- Not in Wallingford, but an option for reuse for lots of materials you might be tempted to toss (even tennis ball canisters!) See link above for complete list of what they accept.
- 8408 Greenwood Ave N
UNOPENED/UNEXPIRED FOOD
- Donate to a food bank such as FamilyWorks
UNWANTED MEDICATIONS – Take Back Your Meds
- University Village Bartell Drugs 2700 NE University Village St 206-525-0601
- Upper Queen Anne Bartell Drugs 1929 Queen Anne Ave N 206-285-0200
CAN’T FIND IT ON THIS LIST?
- Recycling Look Up Tool – Ask Evelyn
- Where Does It Go? flyers in several languages
- Manage your account
- Moving? Start / stop service
- Add or replace a lost or damaged recycling container
- Look up collection day
- Report missed collection
- Cedar Grove-approved compostable items
Great posting to save. But what do you do with fluorescent tubes?
Is there no way to dispose them?
Compact fluorescent light bulbs-is that small round bulbs or short straight tube bulbs?
And how about an old vacuum with the motor blown. Vacuum repair didn’t want it. And also a broken “oil filled” space heater.These items I’ve never found on their lists.
Flourescent tubes that go in the ceiling you can recycle at greenwood hardware for 80 cents a pop. Bartells does cfls for free though (the corkscrew incandescent replacement bulbs).
FYI: Tweedy & Popp also takes rechargeable batteries for recycling
wow, good work.
Here’s a weird one I can’t find the answer to on Ask Evelyn: what about old pillows (bedding) stuffed with cotton?
Thanks for any new info, everyone. I’ll add it to this posting which will live permanently under Wallingford Resources.
Old pillows stuffed with cotton can definitely go to the ReTex bin across from Dick’s on 45th. Any kind of textiles, including backpacks and luggage pieces, and worn out shoes and boots, too.
CFLs (small fluorescent bulbs you’d use instead of incandescent bulb) can also be recycled at IKEA and Home Depot.
Fluorescent tubes and CFLs can be recycled at the North Seattle Household Hazardous Waste facility at 12550 Stone Ave N. You can NOT recycle these items at the North Transfer Station.
Household Hazards Line: 206-296-4692. This is also where you would take all sorts of hazardous items that can’t go in the regular garbage: http://www.seattle.gov/util/groups/public/@spu/@garbage/documents/webcontent/spu02_014589.pdf
As far as the vacuum, if it’s “primarily metal” it could go to the transfer station as scrap metal. If you want to take it apart (I did this with an old BBQ) the metal parts could go in your curbside recycling, an upright fabric bag would go to ReTex and the rest would probably be garbage.
Good info from the Hazardous Waste line about the oil-filled radiator:
1) Empty the oil from the radiator and bring it to the Household Hazardous Waste facility – 12550 Stone Ave N. 2) Recycle the empty radiator at the transfer station as metal. No charge for either.
If you are unable to drain the oil from the radiator, you can bring the entire radiator to the Household Hazardous Waste facility.
Super info! Thank you, Barb!
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Styrofoam chunks can also be recycled at IKEA. They have big bins right next to where you can recycle the CFL’s, in the parking lot.
Am I reading correctly that QFC will take bread bags and produce bags (without food residue) for recycling, if they are bagged properly?
Thanks for all the great info, Barb!
Our dry cleaners (the one across from QFC) takes back our hangers and presumably reuses them, which is far better than recycling.
Thanks so much for all this information! So helpful!
Thank you for a great post. This is fantastic! Inspires me to put one together for another part of Seattle.
Yay for Barb! There’s one other handy recycling tip she shared with me (but didn’t include on this post–perhaps it was too good to be true?!):
You can collect small plastic caps (like the ones on 1 gal milk jugs), and take them to an Aveda Salon to be melted & recycled.
Thanks. Now I can properly clean my basement!
True on the plastic caps. You can take the caps to Aveda in U Village or to John Stanford International School (same location as the other JSIS items listed above) where the caps are used in art projects or recycled. I also just heard about another cosmetics company, Origins, that accepts cosmetic and personal care-related containers. I’ll add full information to the main post above.
PCC also accepts wine corks for recycling.
City Cellars also accepts wine corks for reuse.
Sun Cleaners is happy to take any clothes hangers for reuse.
The Wallingford QFC will take plastic and other bags for recycling. Just hand them to your checker and he/she will take the bags to the collection area behind the store. There is not a public collection bin for recycling plastic bags at that QFC.
Barb, you are my recycling hero(ine)! Couple other thoughts:
Bag Your Bags (QFC) also accepts bagged frozen vegetable bags (no zip-locks — just cut off the top) and paper-product wrappers (from toilet paper, paper towels, etc). There is always a shopping bag hanging at the checker’s spot at the U-Scan station where you can just tuck them in. According to Christine, the assistant manager, they’ll take any plastic, but I don’t like to push my luck.
The shipping/postal box place on Interlake between 45th and 46th also takes styrofoam peanuts.
Lacking any way to deal with non-vegetable zip-lock bags, the very simple wooden plastic bag dryer changed my life. Instead of having them turn to gunk in my dish drainer, I can now wash them, dry them, and use them over and over. There are many varieties on-line, and a relatively inexpensive one on Amazon
Just called the Whole Foods at Roosevelt Square and they don’t recycle batteries any longer. Perhaps that’s because the North Transfer Station does (no charge for alkaline batteries, as they can be recycled).