Spring Cleaning - Day 17

So it was a beautiful spring day, and the house needed airing after having 2 sick kids last week (thus the biodegradable wipes of yesterday), so I turned off the heat, and flung open the windows!!! Which then made me feel like doing some cleaning out of my own closet as well as some of the kids' stuff. The Rose Bud and Sweet Pea came up with a big pile of stuff they no longer wanted, needed, or used, and we sorted into paper recycling, clothes to be donated, other stuff to be donated, and trash. Surprisingly the trash didn't even fill a small plastic garbage bag (this bag is getting recycled to hold the small amount of trash because I don't buy trash bags!) Well there were two things in the pile that I am unsure of how to dispose of them. The first is a broken pair of flip flops. Since they are made of rubber, I'm pretty sure they can be recycled, so I "blackled" "how to recycle flip flops" I found this link: http://www.thegreenestdollar.com/2009/07/how-to-recycle-your-flip-flops/

The second pair of boots have rubber soles and are in fair condition. One option is:

http://www.soles4souls.org/about/locations You can plug in your zip code and see where the nearest donation location is.

I may also be able to recycle them via Nike. Nike definitely recycles old sneakers, so DON'T throw them in the landfill!! Take a look at their really cool link that explains how each part of the shoe is made into athletic surfaces such as basketball and tennis courts, and track and field surfacing, or even into playground surfacing.
http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/

If you are going to be doing some spring cleaning, I hope you will do the sorting process too; recycle what you can either via your recycle bins, or to sources that can use the items; repurpose things (find a new use for the item); or donate to charities in your area. Challenge yourself to have a tiny bit of trash as you spring clean!