Landfill rejects

[travelover]

Or just let it dry. Our municipality accepts leftover paint if it's dried and thus inert. I'd hoped Habitat for Humanity would be interested in partly-used cans of paint but they weren't.

My local Habitat Restore has hundreds of partially used paint cans. They don't seem to sell.

 

[JoeWras]

I'm not sure all the reasons why municipalities won't deal with smoke detectors, except to say anything radioactive is a real pain to handle.

If you are really concerned, the manufacturers will take them. Contact them for instructions.

Finally, one of the most interesting articles I read was about a boy with scientific curiosity who tried to create a breeder reactor in his back yard. He failed, and managed to set off radiation detectors for hundreds of feet away from his shed. He probably also shortened his life. One of the main ingredients for his experiments? Old clock dials and smoke detectors. Anything like this concentrated is a bad idea. Check it out. It is an interesting read:

https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scout/

Their attention seemed to be focused on the back yard of the house next door, specifically on a large wooden potting shed that abutted the chain-link fence dividing her property from her neighbor’s. Three of the men had donned ventilated moon suits and were proceeding to dismantle the potting shed with electric saws, stuffing the pieces of wood into large steel drums emblazoned with radioactive warning signs.
...
To obtain americium-241, David contacted smoke-detector companies and claimed that he needed a large number of the devices for a school project. One company agreed to sell him about a hundred broken detectors for a dollar apiece. (He also tried to “collect” detectors while at scout camp.)

 

[Sojourner]

I was dropping off stuff at the Salvation Army recently and they refused another person's offer of a CRT television. I've heard that it is getting hard to get rid of CRTs.

+1, especially larger CRTs. I have checked numerous charity websites and none of them accept large CRTs. Seems like the only option is taking it to a recycling center or a store like Best Buy that has a "large electronics" recycling program and then paying the recycling fee ($20 in my area). This can be tricky if the CRT is very heavy and bulky and you don't have a sufficiently large vehicle to transport it.

 

[KmmFIdreamer]

There are quite a few recycling facilities here for used electronics - they are broke down recycled. We find that we can set a lot of stuff out by the curb and the local "scrappers" come by regularly to pick it up. In KS last week I asked about donating TV's to Goodwill and one other thift store and they both said no, but someone did give me a number/address for a private recycler...

I might try the Rescue Mission though as the items are in working order. They like to have anything that can be used to set up apartments for formerly homeless families. Since I have furniture to donate anyway, I think I will ask them when I call to get a pickup.

I confess that I have stuck smaller electronics in the bottom of the garbage even though you really are not supposed to. I figure that by the time all the trash in the neighborhood is picked up that they can't really figure out which house it came from anyway.....

 

[Nunthewiser]

Our dump has a household waste exchange, and I find myself taking far more of other people's stuff than I contribute. I pick up lots of unused paint , oil and antifreeze for projects.

 

[athena53]

We find that we can set a lot of stuff out by the curb and the local "scrappers" come by regularly to pick it up.

Listing it on Craigslist under Free Stuff works even faster! Just put it at the end of your driveway and list your address. Take down the ad when it's gone.

In our previous town they had a Large Item Pickup Day every couple of years. I couldn't believe how many people came through with pickup trucks the evening before trolling for treasures!