I think many of us have read recently that we should have twice our salary saved by age 35. I have not.

I did, however, have a box of cables (and a drawer full and some scattered around our home in various places) like Lori G on twitter suggested was more likely.

Inspired by both this and my desire to tidy shit up, I collected all of said cables and any devices I could find, which included old cameras, my sons’ leap pad toys and some old phones from which we may or may not need the information. I spent a long time trying to plug things in with the cables I had. Clearly we will not be using a couple of the cameras again, especially the one with the 256mb card.

Long story short, I ended up with rather a large bag of cables and cords that fit nothing.

I kept the bag for a couple of days. I’d like to say it was masterful thinking on my behalf. I’d be lying. It does seem like good advice in hindsight to do this, as thankfully, I realized I had almost tossed out the cord for my kobo e-reader.

I took my bag of cables and headed up to Manville Recycling because I know they will take it off my hands and responsibly recycle it.

While it may not be the most glamorous place to visit, I still find it immensely gratifying to know my stuff is not going to end up in a landfill. Anywhere. I was reliably informed that they don’t ship anything to China, it stays here, where they recycle what they are able and send the rest to another company who can recycle it.

There is a long list on their website of other stuff they recycle too – check it out (Manville Recycling).
The list includes things like e-waste: tvs, stereos, radios, computer mice and keyboards, batteries, modems and cell phones.

Oh, and they pay for your stuff too. I got $3 for my cables. So I get a cup of coffee (in my reusable cup) to go along with my satisfaction of not putting unnecessary stuff in the garbage.

Emma

Emma Nicholson is mostly a stay-at-home Mum to her two boys. While they are at school she is an SEO aficionado (but only for her husband’s website) and dabbles in photoshop. Her other passions include gardening and trying to save the world by using less plastic while staying true to herself and de-clutter the family home.

By writing this blog she hopes to build up a list of local resources to help cut down on stuff going in landfills and live a more sustainable life while figuring out a way to be more content.

Emma grew up in Scotland and now lives in Toronto, and despite having a Masters degree she still has a bit of an inferiority complex, coming from a family full of people with PhDs and various other heady accomplishments. Oh, and she also did an Environmental Management certificate with UofT and some sewing classes because why not?