There’s no place like 1800recycle.wa.gov

Visiting 1800recycle.wa.gov is like Dorothy arriving at the Emerald City. Unlike Dorothy, who loved the wonders of Oz but really wanted to go home, once you get to this site, you won’t want to leave until you get all your questions answered, especially what you can recycle and where to do so. At its core, 1800recycle.wa.gov is an incredibly detailed database full of just about everything you need to know about recycling in your area. “Our comprehensive database provides the ability to search different service types and a variety of recyclable materials for both residential and commercial customers throughout Washington,” reports Alissa Ferrell, 1-800-Recycle’s database manager. “We even provide a few locations in neighboring states for those living and working near the borders of Oregon and Idaho.” Since 2000, 1800recycle.wa.gov has provided information on where to recycle traditional items such as aluminum cans and plastics as well as the more unusual items like old paperback novels, colored office paper, porcelain toilets, used carpets, and more. The site also informs users what items will be bought by recycling centers (e.g. aluminum cans, newspapers, and corrugated cardboard) and what items these same places will charge you to recycle (e.g. catalogues, clear glass bottles and jars, and VCR/DVD players). The way it works is simple. Say you have a garage full of insulated wiring, and you want to recycle it instead of just throwing it away, perhaps making money in the process. First, go to the website, choose “Drop off and buy-back sites” as the Type of Service, pick “Residential” as Type of Customer, pick the county you live in, select “Metals” as the Recyclable Material Category, and finally pick “Wire, insulated” as the Specific Material Type in the metal category. With the click of the mouse on the “search” button on the bottom of the page, the database will list each drop off or buy back center that takes insulated metal wiring in the county you chose and its location. But the information doesn’t stop there. Each recycling center or service has information on everything it takes or might take, its local website, comments that would be helpful to you when choosing the center, and much more. Unfortunately, not many in Spokane know about this site yet. Currently, most of the Washington state visits to this site come from cities within King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. “Washington State users comprise about 59 percent of the web traffic we receive,” reports Ferrell. “Monthly web visitors from Spokane average 0.97 percent of the total volume. This average has increased to 1.55 percent, since January 2009.” That increase is due to Washington State’s January 2009 E-Cycle (or Electronic Product Recycling) Program implementation, which added over 200 new records to the database. E-Cycle Washington allows residents, small businesses, school districts, small governments, and charities to recycle computers, monitors, and television for free at authorized collection sites. 1800recycle.wa.gov makes the process easy for those looking for E-Cycle collection sites by placing a green plug logo next to each one. So, if you want to get into the recycling action and have some questions that need answering like what to recycle and where to go, this wizard of a database has your answers. You may even be able to find out where to recycle a pair of ruby red slippers.