How to Recycle Plastic Cards
- 1). Turn them into art projects. You can glue cards together to make a coaster, use them to reinforce the bottom of a square serving tray or glue a magnet on the back so you can post school papers to the fridge. Another way to decorate with them is to cut them into small squares and paste them mosaic-style on items like gift boxes, mirror frames and old computer equipment.
- 2). Mail them to Earthworks System for recycling. Earthworks accepts items such as credit cards, driver's licenses and plastic ID cards from both retailers and individuals, and recycles them into PVC sheets that are used to create new cards.
- 3). Donate or sell them to collectors. For example, people like to collect the various decorative gift cards that such retailers as Starbucks and Barnes & Noble distribute during different times of the year. For the best results, gather a few dozen to sell in a lot instead of trying to sell them individually.
- 4). Let your kids plays with them. Encourage your children to use their imagination by pretending to go shopping and to put their math skills to use by assigning values to the cards, like $25 or $50. Only let them play with cards --- like store gift certificates --- that don't contain personal information. Never let them play with expired credit cards, which creates a security risk if they are lost outside the house.
- 5). Suggest to retailers who sell gift cards to start a return-card program. By reusing gift cards that customers return after the value is spent, the business eliminates the cost of purchasing new ones. They can create an incentive by offering a credit toward the purchase of a new card for every one returned.
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