How to Recycle Unusual Items IV

Package it up and send it to First Alert, Radioactive Waste Disposal, 780 McClure Rd, Aurora IL, 60504-2495. (That address ought to give the mail clerk a jolt!) Even if the name on the smoke detector is not First Alert, that corporation probably makes it. First Alert makes most US smoke detectors and sells them under various brand names. If you live in Canada, you're in the same boat, but with a different company - American Sensors - and you need to call 1-800-387-4219.

When you buy the new smoke detectors, SAVE THE INSTRUCTION BOOKLET so that you know where to return it once it starts to break down. It is always a good idea to have a file folder that holds the instruction booklets and warranties for various household items so that you can easily get at them for future reference.

23. Disposable Cameras: Just because they SAY they dispose of them, doesn't mean they do. Many processors (film developers) don't have the resources to sort and ship all the various types of cameras - even if they are reimbursed for their efforts. So just stick with the old fashioned 35mm (it's cheaper per film role anyway) or break down and get a digital. If you absolutely MUST use a disposable, then make sure your film processor guarantees the camera will be recycled after the film has been processed.

>b>24. Tires You normally must pay a fee to dispose of a tire (usually $1-$5), but it is worth it. When they are improperly disposed of, tires to rise to the top of landfills where they breed mosquitoes which carry diseases such as West Nile virus, transmit disease when they are shipped globally, and burn when stacked in large piles. It's better simply to take them to an automotive shop and pay the fee to get rid of them, so long as the automotive shop is actually recycling them. Some communities will pick up tires curbside - but that doesn't mean they are recycling them. Double-check that your tires won't end up as a mosquito condo in some landfill before kicking it to the curb.

25. Big appliances Old refrigerators, Heat Pumps & Air Conditioners Remember when you were a kid and there were these horror stories in the news about kids who got locked in old 'fridges and suffocated? Mom was forever railing at you about not playing in old coolers - like you just spent all your