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| Home Page > For Residents > How to Dispose of Items the Zero Waste Way |
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RE-purpose
Buy. Landfill. Repeat. How about adding reuse in the mix? Below you will find a list of common household items and your options for re-inventing, re-cycling, re-selling and more. Check the list, review the legend, and see all the options you have!  You can donate your old car to several charitable organizations.
You can donate unwanted books to the Orange County Public Libraries in Irvine. The books will be sold at the Friends of the Library Bookstore and the proceeds go to benefit the library.
 Half.com is a company that helps you sell used books worldwide or use Barnes & Noble handy online tool to see if your book can be sold back.
 Learn how to make a secret hollow book.
 Adopt a Can-Do attitude! Bottles (both glass and plastic) and aluminum cans may all be recycled, and you can even get cash back for recycling.
Check out some fun craft ideas using crushed aluminum cans and soda bottles
Cell phones should not be placed in the trash. Instead, you can donate old cell phones to help a charitable cause.
As of July 1, 2006, any store that sells cellular phones must in turn accept those cell phones for recycling. You can also dispose of the phones at your local household hazardous waste center.
Local consignment shops will take gently worn and designer clothing for cash or store credit. An easy way to update your closest or make room for next season?s wardrobe.
Drop off your clothing, kid's clothing, household items, electronics, and appliances at these local thrift stores.
Donate to local charitable organizations
Cardboard (including cardboard used in egg cartons, drinking trays, etc.) can either be recycled or used as a valuable "brown material" in your compost.
Other uses for egg cartons:
Bring your unwanted CDs and DVDs to Best Buy, where they reuse and properly recycle the materials.
Here are some uses for your old CD?s:
Give back to participating retail stores who then donate to charities like OneSight:
Here are some tips for reusing your fabric softener sheets after their trip in the dryer:
Donate boxed/bagged/canned food or money to Orange County Food Bank through America's Second Harvest
Swap or sell your extra homegrown fruits and veggies on Veggie Trader (it's like a Craigslist for veggies)
Food scraps such as vegetable and fruit trimmings, egg shells and stale bread can all be composted. Composting allows the materials to naturally decompose and create nutrient rich soil to be used around the yard and garden.
Furniture no longer in use can be donated. Drop off at these locations or call to schedule a pickup at your home.
The Internet is an effortless way to sell used furniture in the local online community. Think of it as an online garage sale! Be sure to request local pickup and cash only to avoid scams.
Here are some creative ways to make furniture from other used materials or recreate what you already have:
Did your garden hose spring a leak? Put it to good use with some creative recycling ideas and keep it out of the landfill.
By recycling leftover gift wrap, your gifts will keep on giving.
Unwrap these ideas for a whole heap of new ways to reuse your wrapping paper.
Yard waste can be placed in your green waste bin to be reused as mulch or use the "green material" for your own compost
How to use Grasscycling to provide essential nutrients for the soil:
* Avoid applying thick coats which may start to form mats on your lawn. Place your old magazines in the recycling bin along with your newspapers. Make sure to opt out of consumer magazines that you no longer have use for by contacting the company and asking them to remove you from their mailing list.
Create fun homemade envelopes from pages from your magazines. Simply trace a regular envelope onto a magazine page, cut along the lines, fold and glue. Another idea for magazines is to cut out the pictures and use them to decorate your home.
Leftover paint is too toxic to place in the trash and must be taken to a Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Center. The HHW center also offers the "Stop and Swap" program which allows you to drop off any products that you may no longer need while also picking up other products free of charge.
Paper and newspaper can either be recycled or reused as a valuable "brown material" in your compost pile.
View list of local and national non-profits who will gladly take the donation
Computers, televisions, copiers, microwave ovens, alarm clocks, etc. contain materials that are considered too toxic to put in the trash.
Leftover pesticides & fertilizers are too toxic to place in the trash and must be taken to a Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Center. The HHW center also offers the "Stop and Swap" program which allows you to drop off any products that you no longer need while also picking up other products free of charge.
Waste Management of Orange County has added plastic bags as one of the recyclables accepted in your curbside recycling bin. Please place plastic bags for recycling inside one plastic bag, not loose in the cart, to ensure that all the plastic will be captured in the sorting process.
Read through this Earth 911 article for useful ideas and reasons to reconstruct your plastic bags into something functional. Other simple ideas include:
Trade goods such as clothes, accessories and shoes online (free and for sale) at Swap Style
Nike has a Reuse-a-shoe program that allows you to drop off or ship your old shoes for Nike factories to reuse materials. Drop off old shoes at a Nike location in Newport Beach: Sell your sporting goods online or to local stores that will give you cash or store credit.
Equipment and games that you no longer use can be donated. Drop off at these locations in Irvine.
Telephone books are recyclable materials and can be placed in your curbside or apartment recycling bin.
There are numerous ways to reuse the paper from phone books.
Charitable organizations take reusable children's toys.
Sell your video games and toys online to get cash back. 
Re-Ward: Donate your items directly to charity or through charitable services
Re-Sell: Trade-in or sell your used goods at local stores or online
Re-Cycle: Treat your unwanted items as a resource by recycling them, composting them or disposing of them properly by dropping off toxic items at the local HHW center.
Re-Invent: Crafty ideas to transform something old into something new.
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