Electronics Recycling 101; Give me your slow, your unchargeable, your out of date...

In a bizarre but informative paragraph on the NYC.gov website they say that New Yorkers will be allowed to throw their electronics (minus rechargeable batteries) in the trash until 2015. At which time, should we try to toss our electronics in the garbage, they will magically ricochet back out and a holographic elf will appear reminding us that NOW, now that it's 2015 we must recycle our electronics. Ok, that second part I made up, but really, why wait until 2015?

Here are 3 resources for easy (free shipping! they send you the box! they pay you!) ways to recycle your old electronics:


1) YouRenew.com

• Offered me $19 for my old cell phone
• Free shipping
• Wipes out personal info from your device
• Donate to AmericanForests.org (or) CarbonFund.org (your choice) for every item of yours that they take
• Credit Card/Account not necessary to be paid
• Recycles items that cannot be reused
• Green certified site

2) Gazelle.com

• Offered me $7 for my old cell phone
• Free shipping if your item qualifies
• Wipes out personal info from your device
• Recycles items that cannot be reused
• Green certified site

3) BuyMyTronics.com

• Offered me $6 for my old cell phone
• Free shipping if your item is of value
• Wipes out personal info from your device
• Recycles items that cannot be reused
• Takes broken items
• Site runs on wind power and has a cute icon
• Green certified site

More great resources
Tekserve EWaste Recycling event - Bring it, they'll deal with it on October 9th 2010!! (thanks Ashley!)
NY Stuff Exchange - NYC's give, sell, buy, rent, and repair website.
NYC WasteLess Event Calendar - Find the next recycling event in your area

The Label-Maker: Companion or Crutch?

Should a revolution take place in the organizing community today, no doubt the label-maker would provide a rallying point. At the center of this fictional revolution I would stand, a rebel, decrying the virtues of these small machines that so efficiently spit out words like recycling, outgoing and pencils.

“But,” you might ask, “sorting and labeling are the bread and butter of the organizing trade, are they not?”

“I couldn’t agree more, my plucky friend!” I would retort from my soap-box. “It’s not the activity, it’s the reliance, the dependence on these little rectangular strips of paper to give one a sense of order. I believe we can move towards organizing systems that are so efficient, so transparent, that labels become unnecessary.”

“When I finish with a kitchen reorganization, for example, I want my clients to feel like they have x-ray vision with all of their drawers and cupboards. They should know what lurks behind every cabinet because the items there are logically and efficiently placed. Similar items live together, and items that are used most are handiest while items used occasionally are farther away.”

“But surely,” you might assert, “labels and label-makers must be useful sometimes.”

“Ah, too true,” I agree with a vigorous nod, “too true! In any place where there is a high volume of people in contact with the same organizing system, labels are essential to keep things in order. An office supply closet in a large company is a good example of this, with temps and part-timers coming in and out on a regular basis. But in a home or small office, let logic and transparency reign in lieu of labels.”

This revolution will probably never take place, but I’ll stand firm that labels are not essentially the mark of an organized space. Often, they are used as a crutch to justify the location of badly organized set of items. I mean, if you’re going to insist on keeping the paperclips with the tea towels, I suppose you had better label them.

An organizing tool for cyclists!

Biking tool of the century: Pin Head Locks

These little guys are like miniature locks for specific components of your bike. Each one is different and can only be opened with one key (that you keep on your key ring and doubles as a bottle opener-brilliant!). I have them on my front and rear wheel, but you can also get them for your headset and seat, as well.

Why are these the best organizing tools for your bike?

• You only need to lock your frame to a post (no more long spaghetti lines of cord weaving in and out of spokes and seats).
• You can use a smaller, lighter lock since you are not locking down all your components separately. I downsized from a 40 lb On Guard lock to a Kryptonite U-lock that now is attached to my bike frame.
• You will frustrate bike thieves. You won't stop them (any bike mechanic will assert that if a thief wants your bike, they'll get it), but you will make it less attractive for them as an object to steal. Often bike thieves will steal bikes for parts, so if you make it hard for them to  disassemble, they will likely move on to a different target.
• You will save money. No one wants to buy a new bike, or wheel, or headset. A basic pin-head 2 lock set is about $50, way cheaper than a new bike.

Buy online or at my favorite bike shop Brooklyn Bike and Board in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.