Furniture: What to do When It’s Time to Say Goodbye

When it's time to say goodbye to a piece of furniture, you might find yourself with a few options. We’ve all seen that couch or mattress find its way to the neighborhood dumpster only to get rained on until someone eventually gives in and hauls it to the dump. Many trash companies actually won’t even pick up large items like that.

While it’s of course “easier” to throw that piece of furniture to the side of the road and hope it gets picked up or dumped out, that’s not the best option. Furniture isn’t something that can decompose the longer it sits out at a landfill. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency actually found that in 2005, 9.69 million tons of furniture and furnishings were dumped at a landfill. That number has only grown tremendously and will continue to grow.

So, what are your other options?

If you’re looking into other options for getting rid of furniture you no longer want, you may consider donating or recycling it. There are many organizations out there that take donated furniture and give it to people who need it, such as those coming out of homelessness, poverty, or domestic violence. There are also many organizations that exist to help Veterans furnish their homes. You may also be familiar with stores like Goodwill who take donations and then put them on the sales floor for prices far below retail.

Donating Furniture

While most of these are tax-deductible opportunities and thus desirable, not every piece of furniture is made equal. Many times, the quality of or state that the furniture is in may not be ideal to be reused or donated. If your furniture has stains, has lived long beyond its years, or is no longer usable, donating it may not be a good idea for you.

If you want more information on where and how to donate furniture, this resource may be helpful.

Recycling Furniture

When people hear the word “recycling,” they often don’t associate it with furniture. The thing is, furniture is made of a variety of materials, many of which can be recycled. When it comes to mattresses, 80% of the materials in it can actually be recycled. At our facility, we accept mattresses and box springs and do our part to get them separated and recycled where we can. To read more about what this process looks like, check out our previous blog here.

Our facility is able to process old furniture such as couches, recliners, chairs, dressers, desks, and more. We remove any steel that’s in the furniture and send whatever remains for further recycling of the wood and materials. Our fees for recycling furniture are $20 for mattresses, box springs, tables, dressers, recliners, and loveseats, and $40 for couches.

Before you recycle furniture, make sure that you remove any personal items, especially if it’s something like a dresser or desk.

Helping the Environment

Recycling furniture rather than leaving it at a landfill is a responsible choice for the environment. By recycling, any of the materials that can be recycled can be reused and made into other items. Materials like metal, wood, and foam can be used for things like scrap metal, mulch, carpet padding, and fabric.

When it’s time to say goodbye to furniture in your home or office, we’d love to be your first stop for items that can’t be donated or repaired. Give us a call today if you have any questions at 888-283-0007. We look forward to helping reduce your waste production and helping you make the most out of the furniture you loved!

Kids and Recycling: Summer Fun to Help the Environment

With summer right around the corner, it’s no doubt you’re starting to brainstorm activities to keep your kids busy. As you start to make your lists and do your research, we wanted to share some ideas with you that are both fun and great for the environment. Teaching kids about recycling, no matter the age, is a way to create environmentally conscious kids that are aware of why it matters.

Reading about recycling and participating in hands-on activities are the perfect ways to involve them in the process. Not only can you make these activities fun, but you may also learn a thing or two along the way.

Today, we’re sharing five ideas on making recycling something that is fun in your household. Your kids will be excited to learn and play while helping the world we live in.

Idea One: Go on an adventure to your local park or beach. Bring two trash bags!

Walking around at a park or beach and picking up the trash you see keeps everyone active and helps teach kids the importance of not littering. Recycling comes into play here because you can help them sort the trash they find. If you find an empty water bottle or cardboard box, it can go in the recycling bag. If you find a candy wrapper, it can go in the trash.

Having these conversations as you walk can help your kids understand why littering is harmful to the environment and how it can also affect the wildlife that lives there. Make sure you bring pairs of gloves to wear while picking up the trash.

Idea Two: Conduct an up-cycling challenge.

Have your kids go through their closets, rooms, and playrooms to find objects they don’t use anymore. Maybe these are toys they don’t play with or articles of clothing that don’t fit and are ready to find a new home. Teaching your kids about how you can donate items rather than throw them away will help them to give back and up-cycle.

Idea Three: Create a family recycling system.

Start at home by creating a recycling system designed by your kids. Having a few bins for recycling various materials, such as paper, plastic, aluminum, cardboard, etc., can be a fun way to practice sorting and get them excited about recycling.

After they help create the bins, they’ll be able to practice going through each item before you throw it away to see if it fits in a recycling category. You can also use this as an opportunity to educate your kids about how recycling facilities work to help them learn even more.

Idea Four: Learn through books and blogs.

Even when school is out, your kids can keep learning all summer long. This list of books on the topic of recycling is a fun way to keep your kids’ brains engaged as they enjoy a break from the summer heat. Reading through books like this with your kids can help you explain things about recycling they may not understand on their own.

Since you’re reading our blog right now, you’re in the right place for more knowledge about recycling things you may have never thought about. By reading our blogs with your kids, you can use this as an opportunity to teach your kids about the items in your home that you can recycle, such as electronics and furniture. They might be shocked to know this!

Idea Five: Create recycling games.

Whether it’s sorting through materials the fastest or seeing who can find the most recyclable things in the house the fastest, create your own games that include recycling. You can also create fun art projects using only recyclable objects and some creativity. See what you and your kids can come up with as fun ways to integrate recycling into their imaginative play.

How will you work recycling into your kids’ summer activities?  We’d love to answer any questions you have or welcome you to our space for a tour.

Reach out today at 1-888-283-0007.

Happy Summer!

Hard Drive Destruction: Why does it matter anyways?

You may know us as the place to go to recycle your electronics, but are you thinking down to the details? We’ve shared with you before how we are able to recycle electronics, such as televisions, but today we’re diving in a little bit deeper. With our electronic recycling services, we complete all teardown and value recovery. This means that we disassemble electronics down to the basic components and then sort and separate them. What we can use for their raw commodity, like plastics and metals, we do.

However, there may be one thing on your mind when you bring a computer to us: what about the hard drive?

Recycling Computers

These days, most of our lives are on a computer. We’ve got files dating back who knows how long, private information, and data that we don’t want others to know. While this may be the last thing on our mind when tossing out an old hard drive, it’s something that we take seriously. Your data security is important to you, and we get that. At Gold Circuit E-Cycling, we do what we can when it comes to your hard drives. We take extra precaution to secure all hard drives that make their way into our facility. When it comes time for them to be destroyed, we make sure of it. We are able to physically destroy hard drives to make sure that all of your personal data is safe, secure, and out of the wrong hands.

Your hard drive on your computer may have things like bank information, website passwords, credit card numbers, and health records. Even if you tried to delete it, it can still have a place on your hard drive.

Our Data Destroyer

Our Data Destroyer gets the job done quickly and efficiently with a crushing technique that goes beyond just drilling holes or other tricks you may read about online. Our tools bend the hard drive and move down the middle of it to create stretch marks, making the data on the disk platters inaccessible. The entire destroying process only takes a few seconds, so you can rest assured knowing it’ll get handled quickly and easily. Sure, you can take a hammer to your hard drive, but that is extremely dangerous as hard drives are made of various small pieces of plastic, metal, and possibly even glass. Destroying your own hard drive can be a dangerous feat, even if you have experience working with the technology.

Many have also tried bending the pins or destroying the circuit board under the drive, however, that is something that can easily be replaced by people who know what they are doing when it comes to stealing your information. The only way to guarantee that your data cannot be recovered is by destroying the disk and making it inaccessible as we referenced above.

Why it Matters

You might be wondering why it really matters and why you can’t just dispose of an old hard drive at home along with your computer. Aside from the importance of recycling certain materials within the old computer, destroying old hard drives protects more than just the environment. It protects you and your information. Sometimes people find themselves with numerous old hard drives if they’ve had to replace them or have gotten new electronics. The thing is, these old hard drives laying around put your data at risk of being stolen. Even if the data is on a hard drive that is outdated or broken, it can still put your data at risk.

Not only is hard drive destruction essential for people, but also for businesses. If your computer holds records for other people on it, there are laws, such as HIPAA, that were put in place to keep data safe. Destroying your hard drive can ensure that your business protects the information on its hard drive.

We’re Here to Help

For just $10, we offer this complete hard drive destruction to help give you peace of mind knowing your data won’t land in the wrong hands. We also offer discounts for businesses who are looking to do bulk hard drive destruction. Protect yourself and the information you hold close by taking the responsible steps to properly getting rid of your electronics, hard drives included. We’re here to help. Contact us today at 888-283-0007 to set up a time for your drop off or to ask any questions you may have.