Note: Items listed below can often be col­lected for recy­cling through a con­tract with a spe­cialty recy­cling company.

Elec­tron­ics — Con­sider retail take-back pro­grams offered by Best Buy and Office Depot and char­i­ta­ble pro­grams such as the Lazarous Foun­da­tion for reuse and recycling.

Ink Car­tridges — Sta­ples and Office Depot col­lect car­tridges for recy­cling and refill­ing. Sta­ples offers $3 coupons for each ink car­tridge or click here for FREE mail-in boxes from Office Depot. Research ink car­tridge recy­cling for char­i­ties and fundraisers.

Recharge­able Bat­ter­ies — Call2Recycle offers a free mail-in pro­gram for col­lect­ing recharge­able bat­ter­ies. Sign-up to receive pre­paid mail­ing boxes and bags for batteries.

Sty­ro­foam Pack­ing Peanuts — Many pro­grams do not accept Sty­ro­foam for recy­cling. To keep those pack­ing peanuts out of the land­fill, return them to a FedEx or UPS store or save them for your busi­ness to reuse.

Toner Car­tridges — Toner car­tridges pur­chased from Office Depot include a pre­paid mail­ing label in each box. Sim­ply open the new box, put the old car­tridge in the new box, seal shut, affix the pre­paid ship­ping label and send box with out­go­ing pack­ages. Or, click here to order a pre­paid mail­ing box for mul­ti­ple car­tridges from Office Depot.

Med­ica­tion — Proper dis­posal of med­ica­tion is extremely impor­tant.  Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals are being detected in the envi­ron­ment and there is gen­uine con­cern that these com­pounds, in the small con­cen­tra­tions that they’re at, could be caus­ing impacts to human health or to aquatic organ­isms.  A vast array of phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals — includ­ing antibi­otics, anti-convulsants, mood sta­bi­liz­ers and sex hor­mones — have been found in the drink­ing water sup­plies of at least 41 mil­lion Amer­i­cans.  Click here for more infor­ma­tion and a loca­tor for phar­ma­cies that col­lect old pharmaceuticals.