Recycling Hard-to Dispose Items

• Paint-- Village of Oak Park has occasional paint exchange days. Other options: donate to local schools, parks, theater programs. Can only be disposed of if paint is hardened. To dry paint for disposal--open can & put drying agent in the can such as kitty litter, sand or shredded paper.
• Recycle Batteries--City of Chicago libraries & Walgreens in Chicago.
• Car batteries--try automotive repair places
• Plastic bags-- Reuse at home or drop off at Jewel. Cannot put in RF recycling. We can recycle plastic bags in OP if we put all of the bags inside of a single plastic bag, tie it up and place it in the mixed recycling bin.
• Books--used book sales are sponsored by local libraries.
• Bubble wrap/packing materials--local mail services such as UPS may take this back. Some of the "packing peanuts" are compostable. It generally states so with package.
• Building supplies--Habitat for Humanity. School industrial arts dept.
• Large metal items--local scrap metal dealers.
• Tires--return to tire dealer.
• Confidential paper--Community Bank of Oak Park River Forest hosts periodic "shredding" drop off dates.
• Cell phones--many domestic violence shelters will take them if usable. T-mobile has a take back program.

Online Resources

Additional Information

epa.gov