Dear Green Mama: My friends and I swap, reuse, and hand-down
everything from baby clothes, toys, and books to cribs, tricycles, and
information. What do we do, though, with our old car seats? These
days, the car seats come with expiration dates, yet I can't seem to
find a carseat recycler. Any ideas or connections that would help in
this endeavor? --Distressed green driver
Dear D.: Carseat recycling is possible and of course it is preferable to throwing the plastic, metal, and material into the garbage where it takes landfill space and can leach flame retardants, plasticizers, and even heavy metals. Unfortunately, the alternative is recycling and there are few places that recycle them. I called one of these places, in Chicago, and spoke with the founder about what we can do to recycle our carseats if we DON'T live in Colorado, Oregon, or one of the other few places that have programs.
"Help people to get recycling programs going--Chicago is a natural place to get something going grass-roots. It's not the most green thing to ship these across the country," says Bill Flinchbaugh of Colorado Children's Automobile Safety Foundation.
"Okay. Okay," I said, "but what about in the meantime"
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Green Parent Chicago related stories: Company Recycling Unwanted Baby Gear for Parents
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