Donate boxed/bagged/canned food or money to Orange County Food Bank through America's Second Harvest

• You can even donate online through the AidMatrix and save money on gas! An extra point for Zero Waste.

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.

• Compost your food scraps

Furniture no longer in use can be donated. Drop off at these locations or call to schedule a pickup at your home.

• Assistance League of Irvine Thrift and Gift Shop

  17801 Main St # H
  Irvine, CA 92614-6706
  949-955-3437

• Salvation Army

  10200 Pioneer Rd
  Tustin, CA 92782
  800-725-2769

• Goodwill

  2118 S Bristol St
  Santa Ana, CA 92704
  800-664-6577

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:

• Inhabitat
• Weburbanist

Did your garden hose spring a leak? Put it to good use with some creative recycling ideas and keep it out of the landfill.

• Make handy grips for your garden tools. Cut short pieces of garden hose, slit them lengthwise and slip them over the handles of your hoes, trowels, rakes and other garden tools. A grip on a bucket handle will make carrying a heavy load much easier on your hands.
• Make an inexpensive soaker hose. Just seal one end with an end cap and make small holes along the hose. Connect it to a good hose and let it trickle into your garden or let the kids run through.

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.

• Make origami crafts
• Make a decorative wreath
• Shred it to use as ?fluff? in gift bags and gift boxes for future gift giving needs
• Make textbook covers, gift tags or cards

Yard waste can be placed in your green waste bin to be reused as mulch or use the "green material" for your own compost

• Compost your grass and yard waste
• Recycle your Christmas tree

How to use Grasscycling to provide essential nutrients for the soil:

• When you mow the lawn, don't cut more than 1/3 of the original grass blade.
• Take the excess clippings and spread them on the lawn to create mulch.*

* 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.

• Dispose of your paint at a household hazardous waste center

Paper and newspaper can either be recycled or reused as a valuable "brown material" in your compost pile.

• Household Recycling
• Multi-Family Recycling
• Compost your paper

View list of local and national non-profits who will gladly take the donation

• Computers for Causes

Computers, televisions, copiers, microwave ovens, alarm clocks, etc. contain materials that are considered too toxic to put in the trash.

• Dispose of your electronic waste at a HHW center

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.

• Dispose of your pesticides & fertilizers at a Household Hazardous Waste Center

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.

• Household Recycling
• Multi-Family Recycling


• Local grocery stores also accept plastic bags for recycling.

Read through this Earth 911 article for useful ideas and reasons to reconstruct your plastic bags into something functional. Other simple ideas include:

• Use to line garbage cans in your bathroom or office
• Use to discard pet waste from litter boxes or dog walks
• Use as a travel recycling bag - keep in your car, purse or suitcase to collect recyclables while on the go

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:

Nike Women
363 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660 US

Sell your sporting goods online or to local stores that will give you cash or store credit.
Below are some sporting goods that promote the reuse theme:

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.

• Household Recycling (for homeowners)
• Multi-Family Recycling

There are numerous ways to reuse the paper from phone books.

• See how to make a desktop organizer using old phone book pages.

Charitable organizations take reusable children's toys.

• My Two Front Teeth - provides donated toys to underprivileged children in daycare, preschools and community agencies
• Ronald McDonald House- provides comfort and care to sick children and their families
• Toys for Tots - collects new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December and distributes those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children
• Salvation Army - provides quality clothing, furniture and other goods to the community at bargain prices

Sell your video games and toys online to get cash back.
Half.com is great resource to buy and sell used books, music and movies…no bidding required.