Top Five Things You Can Recycle That You Didn't Realize Could Be

VHS Tapes- Everyone had these lying around from the tens to the hundreds in the 80s and 90s. Hopefully you've done something with your old ones by now, if not, here's a few environmentally concious ideas.

If you have anything of potential value to someone else, and you plan to get rid of it, why not try to freecycle it?

You can make some wacky and creative stuff with those old VHS tapes, like a fly swatter, futuristic clothing, insulation and more.

Hub Pages writes about an interesting program:

This article on Womans Day tells the story of ACT, which gives disabled people jobs by letting them sell salable VHS tapes, and recycling the plastic pieces of the rest of the casettes. You can send them to the address on their how to recycle VHS tapes article here.

When in doubt, donate to the Salvation Army, Goodwill or another service that will take used items and resell the salable ones.

Toys

• Obviously, reuse what toys you can with other children that you may have later in life, friend's kids, grandchildren- essentially, kids are everywhere, and they all love toys, so spread the love!

• Sell them- Online at Ebay or Craigslist or see what you can get from shop in Santee, which sells used children's items like clothes, toys, cribs and other such things.

• Donate to the , or another service that will take used items and resell the salable ones.

Batteries

Batteries contain recyclable material and a good amount of material that is considered hazardous. A recycling center that takes household hazardous waste should take them, see local centers here. Another option is to send batteries  by the mail to a center that processes them. A popular program sends an iRecyle kit to you and you fill it with all the batteries you can find, including cell phones and single-use, and other electronics.

Sandals

I never knew there were so many ways to recycle sandals. You'd think it might be as easy as chucking them into the recycling bin, but no dice, that won't work, whatever they're made of isn't easily recycled. Most are made from polyurethane, an oil derived plastic that will remain unbiodegraded for millenia to come- plenty of time to find new ways to use them!

You can check out this website for an amazing array of ways to recycle your old flip-flops with projects around the house, like a door mat, or use pieces as packaging material.

These folks make stuff out of sandals they find washed up on their beach, and sell it; perhaps a new occupation? At one point Crocs sent two million used pairs of their sandals to people who needed shoes badly, this program has ended, but keep an eye out for these kind of unique "recycling" events.

Bricks- Yes, bricks. Older bricks with an antiquated feel are in style in today's homes and architecture. From constructing walls to patios, bricks that were hand-made versus today's machine-made, lend a unique feel to a project. If you have extra bricks, see if a local contractor could use them. You can post a free classified on Santee Patch.