Recycle With Your Smartphone or Tablet

Recycling is an essential practice for environmental health, but you may not know where or how to start. To help, there are apps available on smartphones and tablets to locate recycling centers, identify whether a certain item you have is recyclable and more. With America Recycles Day coming on Nov. 15, there is no better time to download one of these apps and start recycling.

For most people, recycling cans is the easiest way to begin at home. Alcoa Recycling’s Aluminate app provides you with the tools to keep track of all of the aluminum cans you have recycled. It also lets you know how much money you can earn if you take the cans to a recycling center. If you have yet to start and are curious about how to begin, EcoSmart – Recycling Made Easy will give you the rundown of the differences in recyclable materials, ways they can be recycled and the specific policies in your area.

Going over the collection of “non-trash” items that are taking up the space in your garage can be overwhelming. iRecycle can be your helping hand. This app will tell you how to recycle different materials and even knows when and where you can take the items to be recycled. If you need an app that focuses on finding nearby recycling centers, Find Recycling locates the closest facility while providing directions.

In the process of making your lifestyle more environmentally friendly, you can also green your devices with special accessories. The Panasonic Solar Charger, for example, uses sunlight to charge your smartphone or tablet and can also double as a light source.

If you are interested in recycling your no-longer-used phone, consider donating it to HopeLine from Verizon, a re-use and recycling program that turns the wireless phones and accessories it receives into support for domestic violence victims and survivors.