Spring Cleaning Quick Tips

March 24, 2016 tantone2015 0

Although our weather has been a little winter-like lately, the calendar insists it’s spring. So, what’s the first thing we look to do at the beginning of spring? YES, spring cleaning! (If you answered camping, boating on the lake, hiking…well, those can wait a week.)

It’s time to purge and refresh your home from top to bottom! But don’t get overwhelmed; we are here to help you de-clutter!

There are cleaning wizards like Martha Stewart who are ready to share their seemingly endless checklists with you.

And their advice…

Sure.

1. Toss It Like a Boss
   Clear out old documents like tax records, business records and personal documents. Consumer Reports has a guide for the length of time you must keep your documents, but after that, you’ll need a safe place to shred them to ensure your personal information doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Tantone provides on-site shredding for businesses and individuals can bring their documents in to our facility for shredding. Be sure to recycle old, worn out file folders and envelopes, too!
2. Make Room for New Summer Clothes
   If you aren’t in the market for a new summer wardrobe, at least take the time to organize what you have in your closet. In the process, you may uncover items you didn’t even remember you had and they will FEEL like new! Anything you haven’t worn in a year, donate it. Anything with tears and stains, recycle it. Wait, recycle it? YES! All textiles—sheets, towels, clothes, blankets—can be recycled at Tantone. What we can’t sell in our Thrift Store, we send off to be recycled into pet bedding, insulation or many other re-purposed items. After donating and recycling the items you never wear, you’ll be able to navigate your morning routine much easier with a tidy closet.
3. Make Technology Work FOR You
   We know it’s true: Technology makes our lives easier…right? If you’re like most of us, you have a box or two of tangled cords, discarded batteries* and last-decade’s cell phones in your home somewhere. It’s time; time to move on, let go, cut the proverbial “cord”.  No one needs a Palm Pilot from 1998 or a sliding keyboard Blackberry from 2004. It’s time to recycle those electronics. Here’s a list of the electronics Tantone can recycle for you. (*Recycling batteries and electronics is good for the environment. It keeps them out of landfills, where heavy metals can leak into the ground when the battery casing corrodes. When recycled, they can be taken apart and many of the materials–lead, cadmium, zinc, lithium and mercury—recovered, keeping them out of our soil and water supply.)

As you wrap up your spring cleaning, look around your home and office to see how you can better set it up for easy recycling.  For instance, is there a place in your bathroom or upstairs to put recyclables, like toilet paper rolls, paper, and plastic shampoo bottles?  Is your workplace’s break room set up with bins for plastics, aluminum, glass and paper?

Spring cleaning really will give you a sense accomplishment. Maybe Martha was right.

Categories: Recycling and Conservation

Tags: battery recycling, clothes recycling, electronics, electronics recycling, recycling, spring cleaning, textiles, thrift store