The year was 1984. I had pigtails and a lisp. I loved my jelly shoes, Pacman, The Smurfs—and recycling soda cans. Every Saturday I gathered a trash bag full of cans and accompanied my father to the recycling place where a toothless man gave me $.05 for each one. These days I still get that warm-fuzzy I’m-doing-my-small-part-to-make-the-world-a-better-place feeling when I recycle. And depending on the item, I get a lot more money.
As you begin your spring cleaning, why not replace all that stuff you don’t need with a little extra cash?
Get Cash for Your Old Books
UK: Check out Green Metropolis. You can buy books for just £3.75, and sell your old ones for £3.
US: Check out Cash 4 Books. Enter the ISBN, supply your contact information, send the book, and expect payment within three days after they receive your books.
Get Cash for Your Old CDs
UK: Visit Musicmagpie.com. Simply enter the details of your CDs, find out what they are worth and they will send you all the packaging you need to send them in.
US: Check out PlayIC.com to swap or sell DVDs, CDs, and games.
Get Cash for Your Old Gadgets
UK: Loot.com and Gumtree.com both offer a forum to buy and sell used items.
BuyMyTronics.com buys new, used, and broken electronics from any location in the world. Payment is sent through PayPal within 48 hours of receipt.
US: VenJuvo.com helps you calculate your item’s worth and then buys it from you with two payment options—PayPal or check. (Site is temporarily down for updates. Will be back up shortly).
Second Rotation.com purchases mobile phones, gaming consoles, MP3 players, and other gadgets to resell them. You could earn over $150 for one item.
Get Cash for Your Old Sporting Goods
UK: Visit adpost.com. Categories range from archery to weight lifting and everying in between. For board equipment, try UK Board Sports.
US: Visit usedsports.com to sell your assorted sporting equipment.
Get Cash for Your Old Ink Cartridges
UK: Head on over to cashforcartridges.co.uk and check out their price list to see just how much you can make recycling cartridges.
US: Visit freerecycling.com. According to their list of qualifying ink jet cartridges, you can make up to $3.60 per item sent!
I have one more recycling tip that unfortunately doesn’t start with “Get Cash.” But remember that warm fuzzy feeling I mentioned before? Well, that’s the deal. Help other families, save the planet and what not…
Where to Recycle Your Old Computer Monitor
UK: Visit Donate a PC— a “matchmaking” service for individuals and organizations—to donate unwanted hardware to charities, non-profits, and educational establishments. According to the site, this service is ideal for people with one or two items to donate.
US: Visit Computers with Causes, a site that gives donated computers to needy families. Just click on your state at the bottom of the page and fill out the form.
By Lori Deschene
*I originally wrote this post for MyThings.com where a majority of readers live in the UK.
[...] Reno Passport added an interesting post on Where to Recycle Everything for CashHere’s a small excerpt…my-small-part-to-make-the-world-a-bette…… Where to Recycle Your Old Computer Monitor [...]
Great post, thank you for this helpful info! I linked to it in the blog on the Music for Relief MySpace page.
Cool resource. Thanks for helping save the earth from ourselves!
I’m glad you both enjoyed this information! Eco-friendly choices + extra money = really cool in my book
Great Post. I am going to pass this along to friends and RT you. Thanks so much!
Wow this is NOT your usual recycling. I’m coming back to click on a few of these resources, thanks!
I totally remember the days of the Smurfs and Pacman. I used to collect cans for my spending money in those days. Although we didn’t get .05 a can, we had to take them to the recycle center and have them weighed. I loved it because they always paid in cash
this is great, but musicmagpie don’t seem to have any of my cds/games in their database :/
Great article! So many ways to take advantage of the poor economy and keep items in circulation. I just sold my broken iPhone, an old iPod I don’t use anymore and a BlackBerry that I got for a cheap upgrade to buymytronics.com I made out with mad money!! Thanks buymytronics.com and seeinggood.com
Here’s the link to buymytronics.com Great idea!!
http://www.buymytronics.com
Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. I’m glad you found this post useful, and I hope you make a killing with your old things!
fantastic post great information on recycling thank you
You should add on places to sell prom dresses/clothes.
hi there loved the info wanted to let you know of a company int he US on the east coast that is giving away cash and discount coupons from participating stores for recyclable items. check out the website for more info
https://www.recyclebank.com/
Nice tips…do you have any hints for Australia
Hi Linda~ Unfortunately I don’t have any tips for Australia. I will look around and see what I can find!
Great post, a good idea, sometimes its hard to find the right place to go to. I think i’ll try make a list like this for South Africa where I stay, when its up on my blog, i’ll reference your site
[...] 9. Even more stuff to recycle. [...]
now in my rss reader)))
great domain name for blog like this)))
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[...] Lori Deschene The year was 1984. I had pigtails and a lisp. I loved my jelly shoes, Pacman, The Smurfs—and [...]
Great concept. Should be transfered to every country. Can be carried to countries where these recycled materials can benefit several educational institutions which languish for want of funds and materials
Love your blog. Will definitely share with others and try to get
some additions to you..like a place to send used crayons.
Wish I had your list to refer others when had my clothing
charity. People were always asking if I knew how to recycle
this or that. There are also vintage clothing stores buying..
some food banks will take donations of items as well.
We all need to reuse if possible and you are an angel for making
this list. Thanks!
Love your site. Lots of really useful stuff.
There is another site http://sellit2us.com that buys not only books but CDs, DVDs Video games and Software. You might make more on eBay but this would be a lot less hassle.
I do not normally comment on peoples websites however I had to say thankyou for such a great read.
I trust you would not mind if I placed a part of this site on my univeristy blog?