Recycling in Your Home

By Betsy Lehndorff, Scripps Howard News Service

Once you've cleared out the clutter in your house, you'll probably wind up with a huge pile of discards. But before you haul them to the trash, look at other ways to get rid of them.

"You're looking at natural resources, whether they are trees or water or petroleum," says Marti Matsch of Eco-cycle of Boulder, Colo.

"Everything you recycle is a resource saved."

She provides these suggestions:

• Clean clothes, furniture and household items can be donated to a local thrift store. For a listing, check the telephone business directory under "thrift stores." Some offer pick-up service. Keep a list of items you donated and their value for income tax purposes.

• Hold a garage sale, advertising it in your local paper.

• Sell some of your items through resale shops that specialize in music, clothing, books, furniture or sports equipment.

• For hard-to-recycle materials, such as computers, electronics, bathtubs and barrels, visit Eco-cycle's website at www.ecocycle.org and use the "What do you want to recycle?" bar in the upper right corner. The site will give you a list of businesses that accept these materials.

• Recycle old newspapers and magazines, bottles and plastic containers.